Relating to One's Character

“Virtue lies in our power, and similarly so does vice; because where it is in our power to act, it is also in our power not to act...” ― Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics

Back in the Eighties, when I was working at a weekly newspaper in Bay Ridge, I covered a speech given by a prominent law enforcement official.

This was during a period when many Wall Street executives were being arrested and during a question-and-answer period, this official was asked for his thoughts on why the supposedly brightest and best were being locked up.

He suggested that we should go back to teaching ethics, like the ancient Greeks, explaining to young people why it's wrong to steal, why it's wrong to lie.

"That's a very interesting point," my editor said upon reading my story and I agreed.

That speaker was Rudy Giuliani, who was then U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and a crimefighting media star, who had made a name for himself prosecuting mobsters and white collar criminals alike.

He would go on to become mayor of New York City—"America’s Mayor" on 9/11—and most recently a criminal defendant, indicted in the sweeping Georgia fake elector case that also pulled in Donald Trump and a slew of--allegedly-- scheming cohorts.

Much has been made of the fact that Guiliani being charged under Georgia's version of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, since Rudy had wielded the federal RICO statue like a battleax in his efforts to local up Mafia hoods.

Many news stories bemoaned Guiliani's apparent fall from grace, but anyone who has watched the guy over the years knows what a coniviving opportunist he really was. His shameless antics as Trump's attorney have been both laughable and loathsome.

“If you take a closer look, there’s a case to be made Rudy has actually been this version of Rudy the whole time, ” CNBC’s Chris Hayes recently observed. “Or at least had it in him.”

Flash Mobsters

For the record, I despise Guiliani and I wish him, Trump, and all those other traitors nothing but long prison sentences and plenty of misery.

However, I am fascinated by pre-indictment Rudy's suggestion to teach ethics, which comes from the Greek term meaning “relating to one’s character.”

In Aristotle's view, when a person acts in accordance with virtue this person will do good and be content.

Unhappiness and frustration are caused by doing wrong, he said, leading to failed goals and a poor life. Therefore, it is imperative for people to act in accordance with virtue, which is only attainable by the practice of the virtues to be content and complete.

I should say right here and now that I am in now way an expert in Greek philosphy, but I've been thinking more about teaching people right from wrong as I watch the news.

The fake electors scandal is stunning. I didn't appreciate just how close we came to losing our government until I read about Fulton County District Attoney Fani Willis'case. These people decided that they were the ones who should govern, the will of the people be damned.

Meanwhile, we have flash mobs invading stores in Southern California and stealing everything they can get tbeir hands on.

I grew up in the Sixties when there seemed to be riots somewhere in America every other week. But they were spawned by social upheaval—civil rights and the war in Vietnam. There was widespread looting in New York during the 1977 backout, but that was people taking advantage of an opportunity.

The flash mobs are the result of naked greed and it's so upsetting watching people flagrantly flaunt the law.

I'm sorry, but I don't to want hear about complaints about poverty--not when people flee a crime scene in a BMW or a Lexis.

And then there are the lone operators who walk into a store and steal just about everything that isn't nailed down.

Retailers are just up and closing stores in San Francisco and other locations because it's costing them too much money to keep them open.

One of the drug store chains in my location have locked up most of their stuff, forcing patrons to ring a bell and well and wait for an employee to unlock the glass cases that hold toothpaste and other products.

I usually got to the local outlet stores just to avoid hassle.

I'm not sure what is to be done here.

Putting all these offenders it prison seems unlikely-unless you want to build a lot more jails and pay for their upkeep. Having security guards try to stop thieves will result in injuries and deaths. It's happened already in a few places around the country.

Can you really teach people why it's wrong to steal? The ancient Greeks thought so.