Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, designed to help bring those four key Stoic virtues courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom into the real world. It's always going to be one-sided. You think this is new, that the other side lies, that the other side doesn't play fair, that the cheaters seem to get ahead? Talk to Cato, who lived in a time where elections were literally bought and sold by huge bribes.
Talk to Rutilius Rufus, who's reward for not being corrupt, as the governor of Asia was being brought up on charges of corruption, and convicted. It's always been a dilemma. Why should I be honest? No one else seems to me.
The rule is when others are visibly breaking them. Why should I be respectful or kind or fair when nobody else is? Well, the stoic answer here is twofold. One, because that's the only thing you control.
And two, because you prove them right when you discard your principles. In fact, as Marx really said in Meditations, this is really the only way we can be harmed. We let the actions of others affect our character. This thing that you signed up for, being a person of virtue, was never promised to you as a path to success.
No one ever said it was the ideal strategy for politics or business. No one ever said it was the better end of the bargain. But you know what it is? It's a way to live with yourself.
It's a way to keep yourself from being sucked in and degraded the way that a more flexible person would be. It's a way to be good, even in bad times. As I say in Right Thing Right Now, being honest, holding yourself to account, can hold you back. Sure, but it also holds you back from shame.
Honesty prevents you from having to keep secrets or hoping you don't get exposed. We need more catos. We need more rutilius rufuses. We need you to be you, which is to say good and honest and principled, committed, willing to do the right thing, even when the right thing is the losing thing.
And by the way, if you want a signed edition of Right Thing Right Now or any of the books in the virtue series, we've got them on sale for the holidays. Just go over to store.dailystowak.com and grab that and I'm willing to link to it in today's show notes.