Our Shame-o-Meter is Broken

An unintended line in an Associated Press story sent me through the roof today. See if you can see what’s incredibly and totally wrong about these paragraphs.

Obama also has been criticized by the political arm of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which has endorsed Clinton. Seven international vice presidents sent a letter protesting the “wholesale assault on one of the great friends of our union.”

“Supposedly, we are involved in this primary because we’re concerned about access to the next Democratic president,” the signers argued. “So why would we want to develop a hostile relationship with the man who could be that next president?”

The guy is saying the reason they’re giving money is to get access to politicians. The issue I’m having that’s making my head go Linda Blair here is that the guy says it plainly and the press reports it without issue. N

This guy just said we give money to get access to politicians. We’re buying our way into the system.

I know what you’re saying. You’re saying, “Matt. Matt, you naive rube. Everyone knows that’s how it is.” But here’s the thing. There’s something “good” about doing something “bad” in secret. There’s no shame connected with bad anymore. In fact, there’s no shame connected with anything.

We’ve taken the premise that humans are fallen creatures and accepted it as status quo so let’s quit all these silly standards because nobody can live up to them anyway.

There’s no shame in how we let our children dress. No shame in divorce or abortion. There’s no shame in drug addiction or alcoholism because we call it a disease and assume no free will. There’s no shame in lying because everybody’s lied at one point or another.

I’m not looking for a perfect world. I’m just wondering that when we fall short we might just have the decency to feel a little bit embarrased about it.