Moral Relativism's Role in the Transition

The new administration hasn't even taken office yet, but already there are clear signs of how it will operate. With little or no accountability demanded from its drive-by media accomplices, the Obama team along with a Democrat Congress can change hard and fast decisions on a dime with apparent impunity, as well as turning what would be a major scandal for a Republican president-elect into the appearance of nothing more than innocent mistakes.

The failure of Treasury Secretary designate Timothy Geithner to pay large sums of taxes during his time with the International Monetary Fund is a big deal of scandalous proportions. Geithner is a financial guy-that is his field of expertise. There's no way in the world that he innocently overlooked paying quarterly tax installments as the IMF dutifully reminded its contracted employees-including Geithner-of their requirement to do. Worse yet, he didn't pay the taxes at all until he was in the spotlight and had no choice. A Republican candidate with far less of a blemish on his or her record would have been run out of town by now, no matter how much so-called expertise they brought to the table. Yet it's not unlikely that Geithner will survive his nominations hearings and ultimately be confirmed with little protest.

Then there's the saga of our newest Senator, Illinois' own Roland Burris, who was selected to replace Obama by a corrupt Democrat governor who has since been impeached by his legislature. To add to the bizarre turn of events, Burris is seated in a Senate whose Majority Leader vowed never to allow that to happen, given the tainted nature of Burris' appointment. Not to mention that Obama himself was on the record as against the Burris selection. However, over just a few days the Senate leaders and Obama team morphed their positions to the point where Burris was eventually welcomed into the fraternity with open arms. Leave it to a bunch of lawyers to get to the lowest common denominator-what's best for them-instead of doing the right thing under the circumstances.

A recent brilliant article by Andrew Klavan entitled Why We Fight explains the pop culture's unhealthy grip on our society. With cultural "leaders" like Letterman and Maher constantly ripping Bush, Cheney and Sarah Palin, it seems from the latest election results that relativism has won and the grossly inaccurate caricatures of politicians on our side are what many people actually believe. Klavan was responding to a related column by National Review's Jay Nordlinger which conceded, based on the election results, that the Left has won, utterly and decisively, and in large measure due to the prevailing culture's liberalism painting conservatives into a corner as hopelessly out of touch and malevolent. Although Klavan makes a strong case for not giving up, he cautions that many on our side seem to be adopting the same attitudes toward ourselves as the Left has toward us. This trend does not bode well for conservatives or for the country if it continues.

George W. Bush made a point in his recent farewell address that no matter how some try to deny it, there is clearly good and evil in the world, as vividly demonstrated by the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and various other terrorist actions. As the Obama team and their friends in the press and Congress continue in their denial of absolutes which allows them to define morals and ethics on a day-to-day basis, it's going to be up to our side to do everything we can to not let them get away with it.