Our whole society is based on the honor system -- but for it to work we have to have honor

The honor system seems to be eroding. But did the erosion start at the top, or was it a grass roots effort?

One doesn't have to look hard to find some writer decrying Donald Trump's crudeness. Even easier to find is the headline making law breaking of Hillary Clinton. They're setting examples that people will follow. Or maybe they are following examples they see all around them.

The other day I was walking toward the 15-items-or-less checkout line at the grocery store, and two young ladies scurried up and cut right in front of me. No apology, no eye contact, nothing. But they were young -- there probably had not been too many years since their Quinceaneras. Maybe they'll do better when they grow up.

I moved to a shorter 15-items-or-less checkout line and patiently waited. The lady in front of me had a basket containing several six-packs of bottles. It's not unusual for shoppers to buy cases of bottled water, beer, or sodas, and one six-pack is one item for checkout purposes. But as soon as she got to the cashier I realized that the bottles contained wine. Each of the 40 or so bottles had to be scanned individually, and as you probably guessed, some of them wouldn't scan.

Then when it came time to pay, the lady used a credit card that had to await approval from an assistant manager. The whole time in that line seemed like 15 minutes, and meanwhile, those two gals who cut in front of me in the other line had long since paid and left the store.

What an exasperating experience. I was furious, I gave the wine lady a dirty look, so that showed her!

Where were we? Oh yeah, the honor system. It's bad news for our country when the general feeling is that we don't need to honor established institutions and mores. The Constitution and the fact that each of us honors it is what makes this country exceptional. Almost all other countries have a constitution of one form or another, but when they don't honor it they've turned themselves over to some self appointed ruler who will eventually ruin them.

We're not in Mad Max territory yet, and maybe our leaders at the top will set good examples. Without honor and respect for one another we're in for a miserable future, whether it's in the highest office in the land or in the grocery store check-out line. And maybe the larger and younger the population gets, the more polite they'll be. You think?