The Grand Illusion
According to the dictionary, virtue is “behavior showing high moral standards.”
These days people don’t talk much about moral standards. The President talks about making America great again, but he never says much about morals. His talk is all about power and forcing others, both persons and nations, to do his will, and to get revenge on those who’ve opposed or thwarted him.
Trump has said little said about truth and honesty, and his words are merely tools of personal power. He can and has slandered people and then flattered them, or vice versa. He claims he’s out “to make America great again,” even as he attacks every foundation laid by the signers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
With each tariff, decree, and chain-saw slash, he’s undermining public trust, both within the United States and among our (former [?]) allies. In addition, DOGE and Trump are now creating lists of “undesirable” individuals and “persons of interest,” the principal criterion of which is often based only on a person’s speaking out against Trump. Those actions reflect more of a secret police mindset and indicate a President determined to be a dictator.
Workable and lasting human societies are based on a combination of trust and power. Too much power and too little trust results in autocracy, and too much trust and too little power leads to anarchy. There has to be a balance.
What’s being forgotten or ignored these days is that trust is based on virtues – where people can see and know that what leaders say is truthful and that their actions support their words; that they treat all members of society fairly and equally, and apply laws even-handedly; that they exhibit compassion for the less fortunate; that they respect others who do not share all their views.
Societies held together by raw and absolute power do exist, and they’re comparatively poor and inefficient. That’s because too many resources are required to police and control society. To this day, Russia cannot mass produce large numbers of high technology weapons and a range of complex durable consumer goods at prices affordable for most of its people. North Korea is even poorer. China has been forced to allow more freedom in order to be competitive.
A number of political scientists have claimed that Trump supporters take Trump seriously, but not what he says as that serious. This is likely true, but those supporters bespelled by his charisma are misguided in their belief that Trump won’t do all the awful things he’s promised… because he’s already doing them.
Virtues are important, especially in leaders, because lack of virtue results eventually in a lack of trust and political instability. Trump isn’t so much a cause of corruption, but the most prominent symptom of an increasingly dysfunctional political structure, and a society, that rewards the most charismatic of liars, while largely ignoring those who stick to the facts, an ignorance based on an increasing lack of virtue on all levels of society.
I agree about the lack of virtue on all levels of society. I think that it may be a symptom of a general lack of community in the 21st century United States.
That feeling of community is under assault by one huge force: Globalization and pursuit of every possible profit by corporations has killed many of the local businesses that made the fabric of community. Local businesses that employed people and local banks that knew your name and would loan money in the community.
The sway of mega-corporations and the ultra-rich has given rise to the rational realization that the game is rigged and that hard work won’t be rewarded.
Many folks, feeling that they are the victims of a con, look to a con man that they feel is on their side. But of course they are being conned yet again.
You are right, and I completely agree. I would just add that rampant misinformation and disinformation are a huge force driving all this too.
It’s very, very hard to have an intelligent discussion with someone on the opposite side of the political divide, because they’re not likely to agree with you on even basic facts.
Without discourse, how can we build trust?
Postagoras,
I agree that people feel the way you describe. However, I would add that America has always had their fair share of robber barons and on the other end of the spectrum the desperately poor. LEM’s and KevinJ’s comments describe a uniqueness to our current situation in that the decay of virtues in our leaders as well as the aid of swift and massive information spread support a profound societal impact in the here and now.
I would also argue that the decay in values (i.e., massive shift in our cultural norms) is being LED from the top rather than the top reflecting the change in the citizenry. Thos are the two choices and I’m going with the most effective and likely one. It’s a very sad state of affairs and I believe the only way a significant shift back to the center will occur is with a massive impact to the collective psyche of the citizenry. That means pain and suffering before action (if any) will occur. I expect no one knows what that precipitating event will look like. I only hope it comes sooner.
“… virtue is “behavior showing high moral standards”. These days people don’t talk much about moral standards. …”
“… Virtues are important, especially in leaders, because lack of virtue results eventually in a lack of trust and political instability. …”
We tend not to talk about things we know we ourselves cannot achieve.
I used to think education levels determined who was most likely to try to maintain virtues (at least according to the specific culture they maintained). But it seems most of the “educated” individuals appear to use their education for gains of the zero-sum type.
So, if one accepts that “God” produced imperfect humans on purpose, and we ignore the obvious question, what can any individual do to achieve ‘high moral standards’? What depth of introspection is required and how does one embed safeguards against suicide in our present social media-based environment? There are not enough mountains for each individual human but of course we have established that there are enough isolation caves (but who will run the machines when that nemesis ‘government’ ceases to exist).
I think I’ll have another drink.