A Question of Ethics
Abstract
The breakdown of character is the number-one crisis in America. I am not in politics anymore. I have done my time, literally and figuratively, but I can't help watching with dismay what is happening in our country. Watergate was a great shock because so many of us close to the president got in trouble. Now it is routine. Witness what has happened in the last decade. For the first time in history, 10 senators at once were called before the Ethics Committee. A Speaker of the House was forced out of office. Sen Robert Packwood (R-Oreg.) resigned. The Department of Justice bragged that 1,150 state legislators had been successfully prosecuted in one year--the biggest year the department had ever had, as if it were good news. I think it is tragic. But the crisis is not just in politics. It is in business as well. There was a time when a fiduciary handling someone else's money was a trustee--a respected, honored position of trust. But look at what happened to Ivan Boesky, who went to the UCLA School of Business in 1986 and said, "Greed is a good thing." He ended up in prison. Other examples include Michael Milken and Leona Helmsley, as well as the savings and loan scandals, which cost this country $500 billion. It's epidemic! Look at academia. The president of Stanford University had to resign when it was discovered that he had paid $7,000 for a set of bedsheets and was responsible for millions of dollars in mismanaged contracts. The dean of Boston University's School of Journalism resigned, faced, ironically, with evidence of plagiarism. Let's not forget the media. The president of NBC News lost his job for faking an explosion on a news show. The crisis goes beyond professional leaders to ordinary people. A disturbing television show featured people in Chicago wrapping Christmas presents for poor kids. The problem was that by noon, the people wrapping the gifts had stolen half of them.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1996
- Accession Number
- ADA530392
Entities
People
- Charles W. Colson
Organizations
- Air University