Last month, the Wall
Street Journal published a letter to the editor from a Mr. Anthony Crebbin to
which we responded with a letter to the editor that they did not publish, shame
on them. Evidently the editors of the
venerable financial newspaper remain unaware of the gems of wisdom that we
impart so freely are worthy of publication at all times. Hence our publication of the gist of the
letter today on this blog.
Mr. Crebbin claimed that humanity has not advanced morally
in the last two millennia (“Little Moral Progress in 2,000 Years,” WSJ, 09/09/14, A16). He based this on the fact that people continue to lie, cheat, steal, and so on, just as they have from the dawn of time.
The problem with Crebbin’s claim, however,
was the standard he used. Are we, as he did,
to measure the morality of society by the actions of criminals?
How, then, are we to view the billions who are not
criminals?
The fact is, we have advanced remarkably in the last 2,000
years. The United States, as originally
conceived, and excepting the horror of chattel slavery, is itself the best
example of this. Francesco Cardinal Satolli
(1839-1910), first Papal Legate to the United States, declared that the U.S.
Constitution and the Gospels constitute “the Magna Chartas of humanity.”
Crebbin is, of course, entitled to his opinion, but he would
have done better to advocate a return to the vision of America’s founders, and
organize with others to restore a system that, as George Mason put it in the
first draft of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, recognizes, protects, and
maintains the fact that “all men are by nature equally free and independent and
have certain inherent rights, of which they cannot, by any compact, deprive or
divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the
means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining
happiness and safety.”
Yours,
Blah, blah.
#30#