THE BOOK OF VICES

It's a delightful, wicked pleasure to see a pompous, moralizing stuffed
shirt like William Bennett, best-selling author of the "Book of Virtues"
and elitist scold of the lecture circuit, hoisted on his own petard so the
world can see his feet of clay. The revelation that a man who makes a
living denouncing the vices and pleasures of others has lost $8 million to
what appears to be a compulsive gambling problem moved even the buttoned-up
Michael Kinsley to declare himself among the party of sinners and rejoice
at the Humpty-Dumpty act of the "virtue magnate."

Liberal commentators have gathered 'round to kick the hypocrite while he is
down -- it's payback time for what the right, led by Mr. Bennett, did to
that sinner Bill Clinton. Conservatives who loudly championed the
"character issue" are lamely reduced to making the same libertarian
arguments in Mr. Bennett's defense that he has himself rejected when they
are applied to divorced people, marijuana smokers, homosexuals and others
who fail to meet his virtue standard.

It is difficult to define when a vice rises from a trivial fault or act of
self-indulgence to the level of a crime or an antisocial behavior that
should be discouraged or prohibited by law. There's general agreement on
drinking to excess in public and failure to bathe, but the consensus breaks
down when we get to tobacco, marijuana, gambling, adultery, consorting with
prostitutes and the making and enjoying of pornography.

The libertarian argument that people should be allowed to do what they like
in the privacy of their own home without interference from government so
long as it does no harm to others is a pretty good starting point for a
discussion on the regulation of vice. Conservative intellectuals should be
encouraged in this line of inquiry now that one of their number has been
revealed as just another sinner.

If Mr. Bennett had not been in the business of telling others what to do,
his gambling would be a private matter between him and his wife and heirs.
Gambling, as southeastern Connecticut will attest, is a social blight,
bringing with it crime and economic decline, but Mr. Bennett has
nevertheless broken no law. We should extend to him the same respect for
privacy and individual freedom that he denies to those who like to drink or
smoke dope, want to get out of a bad marriage, or express the noble emotion
of love through physical intimacy with a member of the same sex.

In what is either classic denial, arrogant elitist sentiment or the
inclination to defend what is left of his private life Mr. Bennett says he
can "handle" his gambling problem. Let's take him at his word and leave him
alone, provided he assures us he is through saying he is morally superior
to anyone, at least in public, for money. Before he vanishes for good from
the public stage, we recommend he go to church and heed the words of the
deepest thinker on this subject: "Let he who is without sin cast the first
stone."