Have We Lost a Sense of Decency?

 There is an advertisement on television in which a group are seated in a semicircle, and the leader asks. 'Who wants to share what you're holding' to which a man responds by appearing to relieve his private   discomfort.  I feel uncomfortable describing such an inappropriate advertisement, but it is an example of the deterioration of simple rules of ethics, courtesy, and respect that are being ignored.  I am no prude, but I find myself watching television with the silencer in my hand during the commercials.  

Recently on the news they showed people in expensive cars taking over intersections to dangerously slide circles at high rates of speed.  I know that kids racing their hotrods' dangerously is nothing new, but these cars were new, very expensive cars.  It seemed unlike racing hotrods.  The drivers in those expensive cars dominating the intersection seemed to be doing more than just showing off their cars.  They seemed to be saying "I am rich and I can get away with this."

Curse words on television are no longer unusual.  Obvious lies are just shrugged off.  Such things that once would have been criticized and regarded as vulgar are accepted.

Those crashing into stores to steal expensive things of all kinds do not seem to be dressed in shabby clothes.  They do not seem to be stealing because they are in desperate need.  "Ram Rads" as they are called, are now organized, not just a bunch of kids but a boss that plans the Rad and pays the kids for what they can carry out of the store.  The master mind behind the crime stays elusive, while kids seem to see what they are doing as more of a prank than breaking the law, laughing as they race out of the store with as much as they can carry.  Why are kids so willing to participate in the Rads.

I have noticed more and more shops installing locked shelves, requiring shoppers to find a clerk to unlock the merchandise.  These are not happening only in expensive jewelry stores.  They are happening in stores in which we regularly shop.   

I know that generational changes have existed throughout my life, and probably ever since humans learned to walk on two legs, but this seems different.  It seems disrespectful to honest shoppers, as well as inconvenient to go in search of a clerk in order to buy a tube of lipstick.  On the other hand, reducing thefts might reduce the current necessity of raising prices to cover the expense of thefts.    

So, what is my point?  Is it really nothing new?  Am I just observing it from the perspective of an older person, making more of it than it deserves?  My opening question is "Have We Lost All Sense of Decency? Are the things I regard as common decencies and mutual respect impossible in our crowded world of today, where we no longer know our neighbors?  Is it inevitable that a frightened homeowner would shoot a young man pounding on the wrong door late at night by mistake?  

Perhaps doing the best we can do is becoming the best we can do. However, I still believe that we can pay attention and stop admiring those who get ahead by stepping on other people.  If children see parents saying, 'He's a rascal, but he gets things done," those comments are likely to make more impact than parents intended.  Remember when collage sports were intended to be about sportsmanship for the players rather that a takeover by adults who saw a way to make money.  Remember when parents made time in the evening to play board games with their kids and their kids thought that was fun.  Remember when parents and kids were not so busy.  Probably only my generation remembers those things. 

That's a shame.  

 

Our Constitution is Not Broken

 The founding Fathers carefully structured a plan to run the government for decades, but did the 250th  Celebration represent a farewell, having gradually drifted away from the ethics and unselfishness our constitution requires.  It worked when strongminded men of character voted as they saw best.  However, they debated vigorously, and listened to the ideas of others, and sometimes found something better.  Other times they saw that ideas would not work but alterations would.  The point was that together they could find ways to satisfy more than just the strongest. 

That system worked best with less power in the presidency, after all, America was born to escape a King.  Congress was supposed to be the most powerful branch of government, because individually they represented the people.  The more power in the President, the less power of the Congress, and the more power of political parties, the reduction of the power of Congress speaking for the citizens that elected them.  The Founding Fathers saw the system they created as the best representation of their voters. 

Today there are those that feel our constitution no longer works.  For example, each state has two senators, although some states have much smaller populations. Yet, if the present system were based on population, small states would be constantly crimpled.  

There is also the changed competition of the world, making it impossible for the hardest working Senator to be deeply informed about every issue.  Senators cannot be well informed about AI, our heating Planet, whether farmers are helping or hurting the nation's soils, the cause for children falling behind, use and abuse of medicines, efficacy of vaccines, and other countless important issues.  Has the system the Founding Father's devised become obsolete or is it only that the safeguards the Founding Fathers established have gradually been ignored? Has what the Founding Fathers established slipped from congress and wrongly been assumed by the President?

Once the Senate was called "the world's greatest liberating body."  Under Article 11, Section 2, the President nominates his choice of whom he wants, but the members of the Senate have the final say and responsibility of determining qualification.  Both Parties should want qualified nominees.  However, I have watched many reviews of candidates chosen by presidents, and the bias of the examiners seems obvious. This should not be entirely the President's choice.  This examination is important, and both parties should remove their political bias and determine for themselves whether the candidate is capable. That is their responsibility, regardless of their political party.   We voters may tend to see the election as over, but perhaps all of us need to be more concerned about the President's choices and let our Senators know how we feel.

  Our Constitution is not broken. Rather, those given the responsibility to protect and defend are failing us.  The World is more complicated than in Washington's time.  There are more issues, and the world moves faster.  However, the responsibility of those we elect have better travel, better access to information, better staff, better ability to travel home, better health and better opportunities.  The people we elect are what makes the Constitution work, and if it isn't working, what makes you think a different Constitution would do any better.  Perhaps it is us, not the Constitution, that needs some respect of the laws the Founding Fathers wisely provided for us in order to heal the Nation.