CONTEMPT—Raw, in-your-face, unapologetic, and morally bankrupt. Every so often, the country reaches a point where character is not an abstraction but a requirement. We’re in one of those moments now. The country’s cynicism level has reached DEFCON 1. You can feel it in the way the culture has shifted. You can see it in how some treat once-trusted institutions with...

In 1969 — fifty years ago, today — I was driving a 1965 blue Mustang while attending my second year of college as turmoil swirled in the country. While I didn’t know it at the time, the country was more divided then at any time since the Civil War. The Good: miniskirts… lots of them. The Bad: the Manson family....