On May 2, 2023, the Democratic Party-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee engaged in an inquiry into the ethical standards of the United States Supreme Court.
The very idea of moral character has been hollowed out. It’s now thought to mean “being good,” and we tend to regard it simply as obeying rules, avoiding evil, and exhibiting “nice” behavior. Next to the more traditional idea of virtue, this kind of bloodless, anemic do-goodery makes a trained dog seem more interesting than a human being. In its fullest conception, virtue includes much more than good behavior; it includes the idea of being something, or becoming completely what it is to be human.
Last week, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten testified before a House Oversight subcommittee investigating the government's response to the coronavirus pandemic. Incredibly, one of the nation's foremost opponents of reopening schools, heading an organization that did nothing but resist reopening schools, delivered testimony straight out of opposite world.
