Moral Compass

It has been said the more things change the more they stay the same. Boy, I've been thinking a lot about this lately. Morality itself has changed enormously since I was a child and it has spilled over into our lives to the point of no return.

When I was young I did not smoke and wouldn't have had a clue where to get drugs other than the drug store (there used to be such a thing). The keg parties during my college years were 3.2 beer. I didn't "sleep" with my boyfriends. Not because I didn't have the urge or a "holier than thou" attitude to be sure. I was just absolutely convinced I'd "get caught". Read pregnant. It would have destroyed my parents and that they did not deserve.

Today we are beginning to look at the next group of men and women who feel they should be the ones to lead our country. I find it interesting how many have admitted to multiple affairs and marriages. It fascinates me that one candidate that has had one wife happens to be the Mormon! Okay. Times change and I try not to be overly judgemental. I know my folks thought my generation was every bit as much on the road to depravity and ruin as I now wonder about those following mine.

I wonder if there isn't a degree of moral authority in conviction. If so I find it totally lacking in our current crop of politicians. One need only look at the amount of pork being allowed by the newly elected Democrats just to expedite passage of their agenda. One need only look at the lack of substance coming from the Presidential candidates. Platitudes aplenty, but little substance. It is telling that those who are actually laying out plans have yet to catch the attention of the voters.

We teeter on the brink of self destruction by focusing too much on fear of not fulfilling our personal ambitions to the detriment of the whole. Democrats have tunnel vision on the war in Iraq. If they were honest and looked at the complete picture they might be called a names - unpatriotic, or some such. None of them, Democrats or Republicans, are willing to admit that they failed to do due diligence on the war in the first place. Like lemmings to the sea they followed the dictates of their own leaderships. Heaven forbid they might not get that plum committee assignment or chairmanship!

It is a disturbing sameness. What we are seeing is it matters little who holds the power. Again, the platitudes - after a period of grace it's right back to the same behavior. Maybe different faces. Interchangeable faces.

Jacob Weisberg, editor of Slate.com stated in his column in The Financial Times that "nations and individuals do not grow weaker by confronting truth. They grow weaker by avoiding it and coming to believe their own evasions".

It is time seek real change, demand it, lest things remain the same one more time.