Nov. 9 – In a few hours, I'll be off to teach my college undergraduate ethics class. Today of all days, faced with the unexpected election of Donald Trump as president, it would be fitting if one of my students were to ask the following question:
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Compass
"After what has happened in the past 24 hours, what point is there to studying things such as moral principles, virtue, character, honesty, and all this ethical claptrap you make us read and talk about? None of it, so it seems, needs to be taken seriously to become president. Admit it: You're wasting our time!"
Believe me, I get it. A lot of people around the world, not just U.S. citizens, surely are asking something similar as the election results sink in. My imaginary student's question is one of the many plausible take-aways from this shocking turn of events. Re-stated as a conclusion, it might go something like this:
It's okay to openly disparage ethical and moral norms even if you're a candidate for the nation's highest elected office. So, why should we concern ourselves with morality at all, whether seeking personal gain or pursuing public office? After all, fifty-nine million people just seemed to say it does not matter.
A lot of us surely will be struggling with a host of puzzlements following this most astonishing of presidential elections. My brief response to this particular concern–"After today, why ethics?"– is just that: an almost gut reaction to this election's challenge to the very foundations of our culture. That said, here is my initial response to my hypothetical student:
This election, morally confusing as it seems right now, does not change the fact that there is a True North. The moral universe still exists and operates as it always has. A moral compass in good working order is required for understanding our place in that universe and where we are headed. That includes being aware of when we're not aligned with True North, with our most basic core values, and therefore do not know our location or our direction, i.e., when we're lost.
At the moment, it feels like our nation has veered dangerously out of alignment with its moral compass. Never have we more needed those who know True North and how to steer a course out of the wilderness of political and moral malfeasance that got us here. For that, we need students of ethics–and I mean all of us.
Stephen Swecker, a retired clergy member of the West Virginia Annual Conference, serves as The Ethics Coach. He blogs at Ethics Unplugged, from which this post is republished with the author's permission.