Let there be no moral men

In "Rules for Radicals," Saul Alinsky writes that "he who fears corruption fears life." There is, in fact, no honor in living the life of a moral man.

The study of ethics is paramount to the college curriculum. But once removed from institutions of higher learning, the student can receive the unhappy surprise of seeing the higher good subjugated by the hideousness of Real Life. When once admiring from afar the beauty of justice, equality and liberty, in Real Life one is forced to witness the remains of ideals maimed by circumstance. From this vantage point, one quickly realizes that decision-watching is very different from decision-making. Because making is a synonym for creating, ethical decision-making requires creativity and ownership of one's creation.

Ethical decision-making for Real Life requires the decision-maker to recognize two critical principles. The first is taken from Newton's 3rd law of motion: "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." In the realm of ethical decision-making, one must acknowledge that all actions involve counteractions. By this law, no action, however good or bad, goes unpunished. Second, is to separate ethical decision-making from moral humbuggery. One must understand that Real Life cannot be built from the flimsy idealizations of virtue ethics. Real Life requires a structure, and Real Decisions with which to hold it. It is not difficult to be moral by talking and watching. To be honorable takes the courage to roll up one's sleeves and get dirt under one's fingernails. As Jacques Maritain says, "the fear of soiling ourselves by entering the context of history is not virtue, but a way of escaping virtue." To counter Real Life one needs to arm oneself with Real Means and accept that with every Real Mean is a Real Counter-Mean.

After understanding the nature of the impending creation, the decision-maker must be very systematic. He must first examine the End he has in mind. Identifying the End is difficult because the End often hides itself in the messiness of the Means. As Mortimer Adler writes, "We must distinguish means that are merely means, and means that may be both means and ends-means to a proximate end and, in turn, means to an end that is itself a means to some further end."

Often one will find that the means and ends are one and the same; the end is the beginning of a new means. Ends can never justify the means if the ends are means themselves. In such a case, one falls into a decision-making trap: it is futile to judge the ethical nature of an action's means using only spurious ends.

After identifying the End, the decision-maker must find with Machiavellian grit, what means are available at hand. Simply put, what will work? With viable options on the table, he should then engage in a utilitarian brain-wracking of the best for the most. If the end is an indefinite end, he must also scrutinize what is best for the most today and tomorrow. Before choosing, the decision-maker must re-consider and re-invent his means. This is the lather-rinse-repeat philosophy, and where creativity comes into play. Inventing new means to attain the same end requires subtlety and persistence, but it can be done because the ends are rigid, the means are frayed.

Now, it is not impossible for a man to live life without ever finding himself at an ethical crossroad scratching his head. Such fabled men have what Mark Twain calls, "the calm confidence of a Christian holding four aces." But for us mortals, a clean moral slate is evidence of fear; fear of staining one's reputation. Morality is fodder for the ego. Morality is the sugar-coating over the bitter pill; the snow that conceals the blood on the battlefield. Moral principles, time and again, have been used to shirk action and mask suspect aims: try, for example, to know a political party based on its name.

For the student facing the first fork on the high road eyeing storm clouds at every turn, recall that ethical decision-making is an induction from higher learning into Real Life. Remember that one can create one's own roads. Remember that honor is ownership of one's creation, and to lie awake at night, cognizant of a creation's consequences is the mark of a conscience realized, an honorable man conceived. As Winston Churchill says, "You have enemies? Good! That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life." Because every action has a reaction, and Real Life is filled with Real Means, no honorable man is purely moral.