PEW released a poll that shows American views on morality. It does a fairly good job of showing some of the splits in our society. The results on abortion intrigue me – by my memory, the 47-52 split doesn’t seem much changed from 1973 when Roe v Wade took out most of the state laws – yet I have a hunch that there is some change in the demographics.
Nearly 30% of Americans believe gambling is morally wrong. I guess my view may be traditional Montana – there’s gambling and there’s poker. If you look at poker in the long run, there are winners and losers. It isn’t gambling. In a nickel ante dormitory game, I was a shark. In other games, a pigeon.
Nearly one in five people believe being extremely rich is immoral. I don’t believe being extremely rich would cause me any conscience pangs – and perhaps the middle class is a training ground to accept the rich. One in six believes drinking alcohol is immoral – in a country that passed the Volstead Act and went through a dozen years of prohibition a century ago. Obviously views on alcohol have changed.
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