CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) Society is based on a social compact. These are the unspoken rules that allow people to coexist. We all agree while driving that a red light means ‘stop’. Just a small group of drivers who say ‘red means go’ would quickly make the roads unsafe for everyone.
Consider in recent years how our social compact has broken down.
We’ve always agreed that assembling and protesting is how we express our grievances with the government. But things like blocking interstates, looting and setting fires, and attacking the police have always been considered beyond the social compact. Until Black Lives Matter. The media still fawns over the group, describing them as having righteous anger and their gatherings as ‘mostly peaceful.’
We all agree that when you go into a store you pay for the items you want. Now teams of looters clear out the shelves at stores. And the corporations are somehow the bad guys when they decide to close money-losing locations.
The social compact is that when you borrow money, you pay it back. But consider the large numbers of people who think that doesn’t apply to college loans. Each and every loan-taker signed the papers that promised repayment. One expert believes only one-in-five borrowers will resume making payments when loan amnesty ends in October. Our economy would collapse if we had the same attitudes about our credit cards, car loans, or mortgages.
We’ve always tolerated a certain amount of adult behavior, so long as it’s private and away from children. Three of the top 20 websites are porn search engines. The social compact is that children are out of bounds. So how did we get to drag queen story hours in libraries and schools?
These are not isolated examples. They are signs that societal norms are breaking down. And how is order restored? By people like you and me speaking up. Expect push-back. But if we stay silent, the things we expect from our fellow citizens will be changed forever.
Chris Conley
Comments