The keynote speaker at the 2004 annual Maine Town Meeting was Dr. David Callahan, who has written extensively about history, business and public policy. He is the author of Cheating Culture: Why Americans are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead. In his remarks, Dr. Callahan discussed such recent scandals as Enron, World Com and Adelphia and asked why this is happening in today’s culture. Values, says Callahan, are different today. Things were different in previous generations — those raised in the Depression and who fought in World War II weren’t greedy and didn’t feel entitled, said Callahan. They “believed that wealth was created patiently over time.”

Cheating to get ahead was not invented yesterday and those who cheat consider themselves law-abiding citizens. Tax evasion, academic dishonesty, sports steroid use, and workplace theft is a $600 billion problem in the United States. More people cheat because it is more rational now to do so and in many cases, more acceptable. We live in an age of vast income gaps. “Everybody wants to be on the winning side of the growing income divide,” says Callahan. To deal with the pressures of fulfilling their dreams, people cheat. If given a choice of holding on to finances or personal integrity, many will choose finances. Today’s culture indulges it; people do not believe they are controlling their destinies. People must want to follow the rules. When people help make the rules, they are more likely to follow them. Ordinary people have to have a say. Callahan suggests that we should: make it easier to register to vote, educate young people about basic human values, allow airtime for all political candidates, and hold forums such as Maine Town Meetings. The key to creating a new society, says Callahan, is to assure that anyone who plays by the rules can have a social contract and those who break the rules, whether rich or poor, should be treated the same way.