Honesty was once valued.
Abraham Lincoln was known as Honest Abe. While the story of young George Washington chopping down the cherry tree is not believed to be true, his admission of guilt because “I cannot tell a lie!” was demonstrative of the value of honesty.
Today, it would be appropriate to relegate Washington and Lincoln to the dustbin of history. Perhaps in their stead we could use Warren G. Harding as an inspiration.
- Warren G. Harding’s claim to infamy rests on spectacular ineptitude captured in his own pathetic words: “I am not fit for this office and should never have been here.”
- Once in the White House, the 29th president busied himself with golf, poker, and his mistress, while appointees and cronies plundered the U.S. government in a variety of creative ways. (His secretary of the interior allowed oilmen, for a modest under-the-table sum, to tap into government oil reserves, including one in Teapot Dome, Wyo.)
