Ethics, a word that is tossed around today. A word that is supposed to signify a strong moral base. It seems funny to me that in many years on the job we seemed to run things in basically a moral fashion. Then one day things changed. They changed drastically too! The driving force behind the business now became win at any cost. People don't matter, the truth does not matter, lying is an expected part of your job. It is part of your job to inform on the people you work with. Then of course we had Ethics classes! The point of these classes were only to point out to everyone that the company was of course upholding a moral ethic which was very far from the truth.

Do you believe that the end justify's the means? If you do then you are most likely amoral, you have what I have termed "Latex Ethics". This is a term which is a spinoff of "situation ethics" which basically means that there is no fixed, unchangable standard to refer to but an ethical basis that is always developing, changing and the concept the the situation determines the ethical reasoning. Not a fixed standard. This is far worse than bad. Under this thinking absolutely anything becomes a moral thing if the person feels like it does. Feelings replace fixed ethics.

The reasoning for a fixed standard is pretty simple. Everyone could refer to it to understand others thinking and to sort out the good guys from the bad guys. It works flawlessly over thousands of years. The reason that it has become unpopular is that people have decided to create a great secular state; a humanist Utopia. That might mean that they feel that sexual predators have the freedom to play out their fantasys among our children or to simply in a generation erase the effective use of laws. We have heard the shining example of ethics, our attorney general use this term lately, "The rule of law". That means, of course, "her law". It appears that she has latex ethics. The real rule of law has become unenforced. Murders walk the streets, and lawlessness is the rule of the day.

Basically having latex ethics is like a ship without a rudder and a captain who wants it that way. Its only direction is into decadence and corruption. There is no other.

We began to go wrong in America when back in the '60's you started hearing that term "rights". Women want the right to choose which means the right to murder. Everyone seems to demand more and more "rights". It is a sickness as this nation sinks farther and farther and there is obviously no rights at all. Anyone rich enough can change his judgement at trial from guilty to innocent with enough money and influence. The poor class is sinking even faster. The real problem is latex ethics.

You might ask what is "fixed ethics"? What standard to you refer to? Those standards were derived mostly from the Judeo Christian standards from the Bible. The ten commandments but much more, the two most important that Christ stated: Love your neighbor as you love yourself and love your Lord with all your might. The golden rule seemed to sum it all up in one simple sentence:

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".

Situational ethics relate some to community standards but more importantly they have no more reality that the morning fog. They drift along and only are seen when one who uses them requires justification for his deeds. When they reappear they are always different, but like a little Devil on your shoulder that suggest that you take the path of least difficulity. If it feels good then do it! The path where you will find more monetary reward or pleasure. Situation ethics are created to absolve the sinner of his sin. In truth it doesn't work! These people do not support civilization

Everyone will choose one path or the other. Choose carefully, the path you are on may not be the good one. It is most certainly a more difficult and less pleasurable path if it relates to fixed ethics. In older people you can see the difference made more evident. There are people of character and people who have treated others justly. The others have lied and harmed everyone as they drifted along and their lips are always dripping lies and telling anyone who will listen to take the easy road. They seem so smart to themselves, they become so sure that they are right. Reasoning with a person like this is like talking to the moon. It will not be heard. They have become insane to reason.

I believe that thinking like that began when we were children. We look one day at others and see sickness and poverty and we feel somewhat guilty as we may be happy and comfortable in our early life. We derive two trains of thought from this. We either react from the first person and decide that we in our own life will try to improve the situation as small as it might seem. The other thought requires no effort on our part or guilt because it quickly seizes on the idea that it is someone else's problem and the government should fix it. Their entire lives follow those thoughts.

In reality the community and each of us should be responsible for each other. Shirking that responsibility leads to guilt so it forces a person to grasp upon "Latex Ethics" for justification. It is always someone elses job, never theirs. Have you ever wondered if everyone that could help, contributed to the poor in ways to build them up and help then to succeed how wonder life would be for the them and for us. The rewards of the giver are enough to satisfy us and the poor do not feel right in screaming to goverment for a bigger handout, but know that others in the community care for them and help them. That gives them reason to strive harder to grasp success and help others.

Two simple trains of thought to a child may lead to two quite different paths in life. We still have the chance to change things if we want to. You can help and you are needed. It never was the fault of others but the responsibility of us all.

The OldSalt