December 27, 1998

Janus Looks Back On Last Year, Holds Hope For Future

Janus -- ancient gatekeeper of January for the Roman gods -- could see the past and future simultaneously, but he would be hard pressed to discern the significant events of 1998-1999.

The year drawing to a close was dominated by the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal leading to presidential impeachment. Only the congressional elections, Mark McGwire’s home run record, Dow-Jones stock market climb and the four-day bombing of Iraq distracted us momentarily.

However, I posit that the long-simmering tug of war between morality and decadence was joined last year and may conclude in the next.

Being a cockeyed optimist, I would place a small bet on morality, but I wouldn’t mortgage the homestead just yet.

The president’s dalliance with Miss Lewinsky brought the larger issue into focus. There is a cultural force involved that is greater than the sum of its contributing factors.

That force simply is the rule of law -- as encoded in the United States Constitution. The moral components are honesty, honor, fidelity, responsibility, faith -- just to mention a few.

Clinton raised his right hand and swore to God he would tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. It seems he crossed the fingers of his left hand.

It is clear, even to his admirers, that the president lied twice under the oath about his involvement with a 22-year-old White House subordinate. Yet, the fervently held excuse is that lying is permissible -- at least for presidents -- because it was about adultery. So what?

So, lying under oath in a judicial process -- if condoned -- would destroy the foundation of our nation. Adultery is a matter between a married couple -- and possibly God in the hereafter. Lying under oath affects you, me and that guy behind the tree here and now.

Donald Kagan, professor at Yale for western civilization studies, pointed out the unique status of our country in a cogent speech several years ago to the National Association of Scholars. “The United States was never a nation in the sense of resting on common ancestry or cultural values,” he said. “Instead, it depends on a set of beliefs and institutions deriving from Western traditions.

“Western civilization was not the result of some inevitable process through which other cultures will automatically pass.”

Kagan holds that fidelity to common standards of conduct is essential to public safety and welfare. In the past, monarchs with armies, and clerics with a pipe-line to God, cooperated to enforce the rules. Conformity made community workable -- but oppressive to individuals.

The Greeks tried individualism and reason, that is: democracy. But too much humanism stifled nationhood. The U.S. model of government prohibits monarchs, individualism and religion. Peace and prosperity depend upon law, representation and commonly accepted standards of conduct. As Winston Churchill remarked, “This is a terrible system, but there is none better.”

Our republican (small “r”) government is undergoing trauma fed by unrestrained television, avaricious journalists, massive influx of foreign cultures and religious standoff by conservative and liberal churches. Freedom of speech about politics has been corrupted to anything-goes. Excessive partisanship has grid-locked the legislative and executive branches. These trends, unchecked, would undo the noble experiment crafted by our Founding Fathers.

Sociologist Herbert George Wells in 1920 warned us: “Human history is more and more a race between education and catastrophe.”

Fortunately, there is a reservoir of success on which to draw; and the battle for the soul of America is well joined.

The impeachment of Clinton is a signal that morality is alive and well despite the onslaught of “free thinkers.” Human nature -- operating within a free, lawful framework -- is busily establishing commonly accepted standards of conduct. Laws are simply codification of rules people have agreed are most useful. Contrary to popular belief, rules of conduct vary for classes of people. Leaders are held to higher standards. The refrain “not above the law nor below the law” is a canard.

Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher, understood the process:

“As man is the best of the animals when perfected, so he is the worst when separated from law and justice.

“Injustice is most dangerous when it is armed. Man, armed by nature with good sense and virtue, may use them for entirely opposite ends. When he is without virtue, man is the most unscrupulous and savage of the animals.”

All that is needed today is a little time and a little encouragement to do the right thing. Ten thousand years of civilization have taught that the Golden Rule is more pleasant and more productive. Janus surely has faith that virtue will triumph once again -- starting with a happy new year.

By Lindsey Williams, columnist for Sun Coast Media Group newspapers