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Every parent I know, liberal or conservative, complains about the coarsening of the culture, the promotion of easy materialism and instant gratification, the severing of sexuality from intimacy. They may not want government censorship, but they want those concerns recognized, their experiences validated. When, for fear of appearing censorious, progressive political leaders can't even acknowledge the problem, those parents start listening to those leaders who will-leaders who may be less sensitive to constitutional constraints.
但是我所知道的每位家长，不管是自由主义者还是保守主义者，都对文化的粗俗化，物质追求和及时享乐，逢场作戏的性行为等现象深恶痛绝，怨声载道。这些人并不要求政府对此进行审查，但是他们希望他们的担忧得到认可，他们的感受得到证实。由于担心显得吹毛求疵，热衷改革的政治领导人甚至不承认这一问题，当出现这一情况时，家长们开始将注意力转向那些承认该问题的领导，可这些领导可能对宪法的局限性认识不足。
Of course, conservatives have their own blind spots when it comes to addressing problems in the culture. Take executive pay. In 1980, the average CEO made forthy-two times what an average hourly worker took home. By 2005, the ratio was 262 to 1. Conservative outlets like The Wall Street Journal editorial page try to justify outlandish salaries and stock options as necessary to attract top talent, and suggest that the economy actually performs better when America's corporate leaders are fat and happy. But the explosion in CEO pay has had little to do with improved performance. In fact, some of the country's most highly compensated CEOs over the past decade have presided over huge drops in earnings, losses in shareholder value, massive layoffs, and the underfunding of their workers'pension funds.
当然，保守人士在讨论文化问题时可能会有他们自己的盲点。以公司执行官薪酬为例。1980年首席执行官的平均薪酬是每个小时工平均实得工资的42倍。2005年是262倍。一些保守派代言人，如《华尔街日报》社论版，试图为高得出奇的薪水和股票内购权做辩护，认为这是吸引高端人才之必需。他们甚至放出谬论，当美国大公司的老板身宽体胖、心旷神怡之际，便是美国经济运作良好之时。但是首席执行官工资的激增与业绩提高没有什么关系。事实上，在过去的十年里，一些全国收入最多的总裁，其公司主要表现是赢利陡降、股票贬值、失业率增升、员工养老金匮乏。
What accounts for the change in CEO pay is not any market imperative. It's cultural. At a time when average workers are experiencing little or no income growth, many of America's CEOs have lost any sense of shame about grabbing whatever their pliant, handpicked corporate boards will allow. Americans understand the damage such an ethic of greed has on our collective lives; in a recent survey, they ranked corruption in government and business, and greed and materialism, as two of the three most important moral challenges facing the nation ("raising kids with the right values" ranked first). Conservatives may be right when they argue that the government should not try to determine executive pay packages. But conservatives should at least be willing to speak out against unseemly behavior in corporate boardrooms with the same moral force, the same sense of outrage, that they direct against dirty rap lyrics.
造成首席执行官工资变化的不是市场规则，原因在文化。工人的平均工资曾经一度很少或没有涨幅，而美国许多首席执行官在攫取和利用圆滑、温顺的公司董事会方面几乎到了厚颜无耻的地步。美国人懂得这种贪婪的道德观念对我们集体生活的危害；在最近的一份调查中，他们将政府和商业腐败以及贪婪和物质至上作为国家所面临的三项最重要的道德挑战中的两项（“用正确的价值观抚育孩子”居第一位）。如果保守人士认为政府不应该试图决定公司领导人一揽子工资，他们可能是对的。但是，他们至少应该愿意在董事局会议室里畅叙己见，如同将矛头对准肮脏的攻击话语一样，以同样的道德力量、同样的愤怒态度，抨击不合时宜的行为。
