The Secret Service Scandal: A question of Inside vrs Outside Ethics & Morality

Scandal!  Individuals from the president’s elite Secret Service Agency were fired for misconduct and unseemly behavior while in Columbia.  But what should be the driving force behind good conduct?

These agents crossed the line.  We are appalled.  But might we also be hypocrites?

Here’s what I mean.  In all honesty, our present social norms generally now laugh at what has come to be looked at as prudish standards of morality.  Old fashioned Puritan Prudery we call it, usually dismissed as outdated and over-restrictive.  Come on, it’s true!  Whether it’s a sitcom, comedy show, or an HBO special, anyone who seriously pursues a high moral standard these days, especially when it comes to sexual exploits, is made to look ridiculous, considered a prude, laughed at, and ridiculed.

What might have been called licentious or promiscuous behavior in past years is now accepted as normal sexual freedom of expression.  It’s called coming of age, maturity, being an adult.  You’re strange, weird, and perhaps even unnatural if you’re still a virgin at, let’s say, eighteen, let alone in your mid-to-late twenties.  “What a prude!”  The same attitude exists toward drinking and partying.  A “Teetotaler” is often laughed at with derision and disrespect: “You don’t drink?  You’re kidding right!  Who doesn’t drink?  How do you have fun?”

So it seems that we have a cultural contradiction on our hands.  On the one hand, we celebrate free sexual expression, heavy drinking, and great parties—“party-hardy man!”  On the other hand, we are taken aback, appalled at the discovery that our security officials—be they secret service or regular service, be they Feds or State police—engage in excessive drinking, hire prostitutes, and attend wild parties.

The fact is, our culture has come to define freedom to mean that anything goes.  I can do whatever I want as long as I do it privately and on my own personal time.  Conclusion: “When on duty, I must refrain; when off duty, what the hell, go for it!”  Anything goes.

However, a man or woman of true moral character does not divide one’s life between off-and-on, here-or-there, public-or-private settings.  A man or woman of true moral character is morally consistent—at all times, in all situations, and for the same reason—because it is right, it is good, and it is moral.

So here’s the real problem.  The moral compass is being removed from the inner sanctity of our heart and soul.  In such a culture, we can no longer depend on an individual’s moral character.  And, as the old adage says, it is impossible to “legislate morality.”  That is, such a “condition” cannot be fixed or corrected by legislative muscle or heavy-handed law enforcement, nor should it be.  For it is a matter of belief and conviction, a matter of the heart and soul.

That is, we either believe in our heart that excessive drinking and uninhibited indulgence in satisfying one’s sexual appetite is wrong period, or we do not.  If we really don’t think that there’s anything wrong with this kind of behavior in one’s private life, then it’s no longer a question of morality or moral character.  It becomes a mere question of following precise rules and regulations that are meant to ensure competency for adequately doing one’s job.

And this is exactly where we find ourselves as a society.  Once upon a time, it used to be enough to simply say, “Stick to your principles.  Be a man or woman of character.   That’s all we need ask of you.”  Now, it’s: “Here’s the rule book.  Follow these exact rules or you shall be severely reprimanded.”  Conclusion: “If it’s not listed in the rule book, I may be able to get away with it.”  That is, we can no longer simply look for people with a solid moral character.  So, we are forced to compile detailed lists of exact rules and regulations, strictly enforced, so as to ensure that we get the behavior that we want out of people.

In short, ethical standards now must come from the outside-in rather than from the inside-out.  We are throwing away our internal moral compasses in favor of external rules and regulations.  And that is what is making this society a dangerous place within which to live.  This does not bode well for us.  For real freedom starts from within.  Likewise so does having a solid dependable and trustworthy character.  It’s a matter of the heart, having internal moral convictions steering us in the right direction.  Simply obeying the letter of the law does not make a person morally good, trustworthy, or dependable.