by Aleggs Sander

Created on: August 06, 2009   Last Updated: August 08, 2009

Morality is not relative, and America has not lost track of its moral principles. Morality, in spite of the arguments by Nietzsche, and other philosophers who see relativity as the norm, and morality merely a product of those who want power, is a fixed principle that manifests itself in every society, albeit in various forms.

For example, part of early Apache culture saw it as honorable to be able to steal from one's enemy without them knowing until too late, but dishonorable (a shame) to steal from one's own group or tribe. Stealing was immoral among them. In every culture, adultery is frowned on, and can lead to exile or death. In some cultures however, hospitality is a high calling, and sometimes hospitality can be shown in sharing one's wife or daughter for a night. When examined carefully, that is not relativity; that is weighing the wants of guests above the comforts of self (something many Americans know nothing of). Morality is not relative.

In small towns and villages around the United States, old-style values and morals continue to hold sway for the most part. Even in some mid-size cities in the South, one can experience pleasantries not demonstrated in cities to the North. As a citizen of Dallas TX, I am still charmed by the courtesies I experience when I walk down the city streets, and the intimacy with which total strangers can relate. In larger cities, like New York, Chicago and Miami, most people are wary of speaking with strangers, and are cautious before helping someone. Typically, uniforms help citizens in these larger cities to identify the "good guys" and differentiate them from the "bad guys," a concept seen in so many novels and movies, but recognized as a social fact. In small towns, postal agents may use their own vehicle, and everyone in the community knows them. They usually need no uniform. And outside of a badge, many law enforcement officials in small towns do not usually wear an identifiable uniform except for ceremonial purposes.

It is evident that morality is not relative when one observes that people who do things that are immoral do them under cover of dark. They hide their adultery, their dishonesty, and even their drunkenness under the cloak of night. And in spite of the reality of fornication, most people are ashamed when they produce a pregnancy out of wedlock, or when their parents find out they have been sexually intimate. Morality is not relative, and morality is alive and well in the United States. People may be

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