Americans report that moral values are at an all-time low.

Maybe they are pointing to social conventions, not morality.

Morality can be judged by a universal standard.

Americans think that the nation’s moral values are in trouble, with more than half in a recent Gallup poll rating them as poor and 80% as getting worse. In fact, this is the lowest rating since Gallup began polling around this question in 2002.

Not surprisingly, it is the other guy’s moral compass that is considered broken. Democrats point the finger at Republicans and Republicans point to Democrats as moral failures, while the non-committed think both sides stink.

This strikes me like the findings around how people rate their own driving: up to 80% say they are above average drivers.

Driving statistics can be a fair proxy for ethical behavior if you understand morality as taking another’s interest into account. Confirming everyday observations, driving has gotten worse in recent years, with increased drunk and distracted driving, road rage, the disregard for stop signs and turn........

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