Tuesday, May 7, 1996 Charlie Rose: An interview with Alistair Cooke Alistair Cooke celebrates the 50 year anniversary of his BBC broadcast, "Letter from America", a 15-minute talk about life in America for British listeners. "I've always maintained that behavior, character, is not what you do; it's what you wouldn't do...what you cannot do...what your conscience won't let you do."- Alistair Cooke "There is a great deal of talk about the American system and the prosperity it has created, but there is very little talk about what made that system work. Actually, it was the moral foundations of the American system that caused us to become the world's most prosperous nation. It was considered sinful to steal; so the people accepted their responsibility of creating their own wealth: they did not ask the government to take part of what other people had created and give it to them. It was considered sinful to be slothful; so the American people accepted the moral obligation to be "good" workers: to do the best work of which they were capable. It was considered sinful to cheat; so when people made contracts and promises they expected to live up to them and demanded that the other parties do the same. It was considered sinful to be wasteful; therefore people accepted the obligation to be thrifty and to use their extra earnings to build up their community and their nation. This economic code of morality came right from the Ten Commandments, and the code was lived up to because the people desired to avoid sin. Wherever you look, you will find a great deal of discouraging evidence that sin is becoming a joke in America. Corruption is accepted as a normal condition. Honorable men are considered behind the times. "Something-for-nothing" has become a respectable ambition... The mass guilt of economic immorality is avoided by blaming it on the "will of the people." A person whose morals would never permit him to steal from his neighbor will go to the polls and vote to have the government do the stealing for him. The fact that government does it is supposed to wash away the guilt... But in the long run we will inevitably reap the whirlwind that we have sowed. We live not by bread alone, and if bread is all we care about, even that will be taken from us." - Fred G. Clark

• published: 25 Sep 2011
• views: 12179