What Happens in Our Home Is Our Business

Most of us Americans (nearly 7 in 10 to be exact) believe that the U.S. government has a right to intervene and create laws that impact at least some aspect of our lives from our children’s education to our own recreation. However, what’s interesting is that a majority of us don’t agree on where those boundaries should be. In fact, less than half of Americans feel the government should be allowed to create laws that regulate the following:

% of Americans That Feel Government Should Be Allowed to Regulate...

So re-stating the obvious, it appears that very few Americans think the government should take a wholly interventionist approach to our lives; however, most of us think the government should be allowed to intervene on occasion.

My interpretation is that the vast majority of us draw a circle around safety matters and appear more comfortable with governmental protection over our choices when they may influence the health or well-being of others. But when it comes to recreational activities where the link to safety may be harder to draw clearly and directly, we would like the government to let us decide for ourselves, especially if the activities are occurring in the privacy of our own home.

That’s my take on the list above…. What’s yours?

How Do Santa’s Reindeers Fly?

Just like most of the American public, I believe it is wrong to tell a lie. Seems like a pretty easy thing to agree to, right? Like when I hear a politician running for office say he/she is pro-education and pro-jobs. That’s how I feel about lying. I’m anti-lying.

Except, once I became a parent, I found the world to be a little more complicated. For example, what do you say when your young child asks you in his/her most earnest, world-is-beautiful voice:

IT’S OKAY TO LIE IF YOUR CHILD* ASKS YOU…

I was stumped a million times over, and I wonder if I will be as stumped when I have grandchildren.

Somehow my kids always seemed to catch me off- guard (in the back of the car while we’re driving to soccer practice or on line while we are waiting for a movie to start, to ask me their toughest questions… And, I’m not sure I was always successful or prepared, but mostly I tried to tell the truth in the simplest and most age-appropriate way possible (or evade the question with my best “well what do you think?”).

But now, what if your 5 or 15 year old asks you these exact same questions? Then, what do you say? When do you feel like it’s time to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, if ever? What’s the most challenging question your son/daughter has ever asked you?

Objectively Speaking, There’s No Right Answer

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist or a Harvard education to know that distinguishing between right and wrong can be complex and murky and hard to pull off successfully.

Or is it?

An overwhelming majority of Americans (91%) actually say it’s fairly easy for them personally to know how to behave when faced with a moral fork in the road.

• Do I hire my qualified friend for a job – or an even more qualified stranger?
• Do I let my 12 year old daughter buy an iphone if she earns the money herself?
• Do I attack a mugger if I fear he may be armed?
• Do I go out of my way to return a bag of money that I find lying in the road?

We face (little and big) moral dilemmas every day in our own lives and if not, through pop culture, politics and current events (Google: Sophie’s Choice; Joe Paterno; Tim Tebow; Newt Gingrich; John Edwards; John F. Kennedy, and on and on). And, almost all Americans say others may struggle with how to handle these kinds of situations, but I don’t.

And here’s what most interesting… even though we personally feel we have clarity in distinguishing between right and wrong, America as a nation is divided on whether morality is objective (45%) – or relative (55%), i.e., dependent on the situation, the person, the traditions, the practices, the culture, and many other variables.

So today in this post, let’s talk about moral objectivity. A majority of Americans do not feel it is ever okay to:

• Steal (92%),
• Cheat (91%),
• Break the law (79%), or
• Lie (61%).

We re-asked some comparable questions, but this time with a little situational context. As the context changed, so did our respondents’ answers. In other words, those who say it’s not okay to lie feel there are occasions in which lying is okay.

And some of those who say it’s not okay to steal still can envision occasions in which it is:

And many of those who say you should not break the law still say it may be okay to:

So, perhaps it all depends on how we think about lying, stealing and law breaking in the abstract ,  but how it changes when we visualize specific situations.

Now for fun, in your free (what’s that?) time, check out these mostly famous moral dilemmas and these ones too… is it clear how you would act in these situations?

Moral Objectivity

My Way or the Highway

We all rationalize the decisions we make every day…. Like I really believe I am the best driver in the family despite strong and sometimes very vocal opinions from my wife (she’s almost as good though) and I really think it’s OK that I missed the local theater group’s production of Billy Elliot in favor of my weekly poker game. Okay, so I am not the most selfless guy I know.

But nowhere is rationalizing our own points of view more apparent than in some of our latest data. We asked Americans the minimum amount of education necessary to have a successful career, and the most popular response was just to offer up one’s own level of education:

• Nearly 6 in 10 adults who have received a high school degree (or less) claim a HS degree is all that is necessary to have a successful career;
• Almost 1 in 2 adults who have earned an associate’s degree say a 2 year degree is the minimum threshold;
• More than 1 in 2 college grads feel a 4 year degree is essential; and
• More than 1 in 2 adults who have earned a post-graduate education say a college degree is necessary, if not even more.

I suppose it’s human nature to view the world through the prism that is our life experience. At the end of the day, who’s right? Well, here are some interesting stats from an article in The Week magazine from last spring. Based on this cost/salary analysis, do you think a college degree is worth it?

Highest Level of School Needed to Succeed