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The Decline of Morality Since Caveman Times

Last week, David Brooks wrote that current patterns of borrowing and consumption reflect the moral decline of the American people. This argument raises several interesting questions. First, has there ever been a time when opinion leaders did not fuss about moral decline among the masses? Second, if those leaders have been right, does that not mean that the moral fiber of the community has been steadily declining since caveman times? I don't want to denigrate our remote ancestors, who were no doubt good people in many ways. But they would need to have been pelt-wearing, credit-card avoiding saints, if the Brooks-style moral critics were all correct.

Third, if morals have not steadily declined since caveman times, which seems highly likely, why is it that opinion leaders never seem to celebrate an improvement in morality? After all, if we are no worse than the cavemen (which seems likely), and there have been moral declines in certain periods (which is possible), then there must have been moral improvements to bring us back up to caveman level as well. Even when indicators such as out-of-wedlock births or drug usage or crime improve, as they do from time to time, opinion leaders never attribute the improvement in behavior to moral betterment. If credit card use increases, it is because of a decline in morals; but if credit card use declines, it is because of an improvement in the law or the spread of information or some such thing untainted by moralistic talk. Why this asymmetry?

I can't think of any good reasons. Perhaps opinion leaders have short memories. Brooks has forgotten about such epochs as the Gilded Age; indeed, his condemnation of greedy financiers is even creakier and more archaic than his condemnation of the feckless masses they have swindled. Maybe these opinion leaders have trouble thinking of things to say, and warnings about moral decline receive more attention than celebrations of moral renewal. Or perhaps morality has never declined; what happens is that moral rules change from time to time, and people who like the old way think that morally neutral changes in social norms must be symptoms of moral disintegration. Did caveman make the same mistake and reminisce nostalgically about the moral integrity of their monkey ancestors?