People May Change, but Values Do Not

Friday, June 3, 2011

Page 6

IN MY OPINION (Column)

People May Change, but Values Do Not

By GERT K. HIRSCHBERG

(The writer is a retired trial lawyer, an American Board of Trial Advocates member since 1978 and a former professor of torts at five California law schools. He counts 4,000 of his former students among California’s lawyers and judges. He was presiding referee of the Disciplinary Board, later called the State Bar Court. He is a former member of the State Bar Board of Governors—1980 to 1983—and the Judicial Council of California.)

Post political office term revelations curiously affect the study of history. Harry Truman’s presidency garnered a big boost. Jimmy Carter, one of our most ineffective presidents, became a non-surpassed ex-president and Governor Schwarzenegger’s revelations about, but not from, him, have marked him as a gubernatorial disaster. Although his deathbed commutation of a friend’s son for the commission of a brutal and savage crime had already been aired, the latest revealed description of his pre-gubernatorial peccadillos must offend purists and non-purists alike.

It has been reported and leaked that with a housekeeper he fathered a now ten year old child whom he has acknowledged and supported. Knowing of the tremendous investigatory power of the press, it surely took chutzpah for this B-movie actor, body builder turned governor just to run for governor. It was his luck that the revelations did not surface during his incumbency. Yet, the implied misrepresentations tarnished the reputations, rightly or wrongly, of dozens of (elected and then re-elected) office holders. The misrepresentations were that he was of good moral character, Without being of good moral character, he could obviously not have been elected or re-elected.

The era of purism, if it has not come to an end, has been substantially tarnished. That was the result of an appreciation of extension of the law of privacy, the existence of television and most of all, by the invention, promotion and publicity of the birth control pill. Then there were the results of Roe v. Wade and other abortion-relaxing rules here and abroad. Even if Roe v. Wade is overruled, an unlikely event, its effect, especially in the larger states, will remain intact. Then there is the women’s movement, another trend not likely to be reversed.

The fact that ex-Governor Schwarzenegger has acknowledged (now) paternity and is supporting this child is to be expected but not a reason for Brownie points. As the one-time Chief Judge of the United States District Court of the Southern District of California, Judge Leon Yankwich expressed in the clearest language possible: “There is no such thing as illegitimate children, only illegitimate parents.”

Under the new rules of the game, therefore, sex is fair game. What is not? (1) Humiliation. Maria Shriver, a princess of the Kennedy family was humiliated. She stood up stoically. A true lady. (2) Assaultive behavior. International Monetary Fund Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn allegedly engaged in assaultive and lawless behavior which truly offended traditional western values of public behavior. (3) Injuries to third parties, particularly under the guise of religious protection, i.e., pedophile priests who injured hundreds of victims throughout many generations. Conclusion: There have been changes, but not as to our basic values.