Foundations of Virtue

Hube is getting philosophical. It is a great post and please go read it. He mentions this quote from Robert Bork:

We have learned that the founders of liberalism were wrong. Unconstrained human nature will seek degeneracy often enough to create a disorderly, hedonistic, and dangerous society. Modern liberalism and popular culture are creating that society.

John Adams would agree. He once wrote:

"The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue"

And

"Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

Limited government can only work in a moral society. A moral society will regulate itself. Once the morality goes out the window, the government will have to break its limits in order to keep society functioning.

He goes on with this quote from Robert Heinlein:

Man has no moral instinct. He is not born with moral sense. You were not born with it, I was not -- and a puppy has none. We acquire moral sense, when we do, through training, experience, and heard sweat of the mind.

I disagree with Heinlein. I would argue that most people are born with a moral sense just like we are born with arms and legs. There are a select few who may have an amoral birth defect, but for most people it is there. However like a child, we have to train it. We have to nurture it. We have to exercise it. If we don't our moral discernment will atrophy away and it may be less than worthless.