Here's a chilling quote for you:

"If the president can do it, why can't we?"

That quote was delivered to a Time magazine reporter by a middle school student. Out of the mouths of babes flows truth.

And that, in a nutshell, is what is probably most troubling to me about the whole Monica Lewinsky affair.

I wrote a couple weeks ago how I thought Bill Clinton has set us back morally as a country.

He basically has shown us that you can lie and cheat your way to the top with little or no reprisal.

Take a look at the polls.

The president's approval rating stays high, even though most people say they don't trust him.

I've heard the same thing over and over. "It's none of our business." "It's his private life." "Lack of morals doesn't necessarily hamper the ability to lead." "As long as he's doing his job, we should leave him alone."

So what do our children learn from this? Basically, that it's OK to break the rules as long as you're really good about concealing it.

Even in the president's so-called apology, he appeared to be more upset about being caught than about engaging in the illicit behavior.

So parents tell kids that this is wrong and try to instill some values.

But what about the legions of kids whose parents don't talk to them or don't instill values?

They are left to fend for themselves. They look to society for guidance. They look to people in high places for examples.

And my, what fine example they have to look up to these days.

All manner of deviant behavior is excused as long as the role model can take care of business.

The president can fool around in the Oval Office, lie about it under oath, lie about it on camera and then decide that, well, maybe he ought to tell the truth.

Survey says: He's still a popular guy.

How about our professional athletes? Do a little dope? Drive a little drunk? Beat up a couple women?

No problem, as long as the homers fly or the yards rack up.

So as kids view the whole mess they see adults seemingly ambivalent toward some of this behavior.

We don't like the president's behavior, but he does great in the polls.

We don't like the athlete doing dope, but we love to watch him hit the three.

There seem to be no absolutes for us anymore. I think I know why.

You see, for the past couple of decades we have been fed a steady diet of "tolerance doctrine." That teaches us not to force our beliefs on anyone else and to be tolerant of all manner of what formerly was perceived as deviant behavior.

And of course, if you go against this doctrine you run the risk of being labeled the dreaded "politically incorrect."

So over the years the morality message to our kids has been clouded.

It used to be "Don't have sex." Now it's "Well, you shouldn't really have sex, but if you do, you should use a condom."

Now we say things like, "I don't agree with that lifestyle, but I wouldn't want to offend anyone by saying so."

Or one of my all-time favorites: "I think abortion is wrong, but I wouldn't want to force my views on anyone else."

I think that we have a consensus on murder. Everybody can agree that's wrong. But anything short of that and you will have a debate.

People rationalize and justify all manner of bizarre, deviant behavior. I've heard people say that a rape victim "deserved it." Or that stealing from an employer is OK because they don't get paid enough.

Of course, it's perfectly acceptable to cheat on your taxes. Everybody does it.

So what does this tell our kids about the importance of morality? Either that it's not very important or that the adults around them are not really very serious about it.

In either case, it's easy for them to leap to the conclusion that they can rationalize virtually any behavior.

There are plenty of examples.

In Chicago an 8-year-old and a 7-year-old murder an 11-year-old girl to take her bicycle.

In Waco, Texas, a teacher leaves the classroom for a few minutes and comes back to find a 15-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy engaged in oral sex in front of their classmates.

These are the extreme examples of the "if it feels good, do it" mentality present in today's kids.

But the attitude is spreading.

That's what happens when you preach the tolerance doctrine.

It doesn't really matter what we tell our kids. They see for themselves the real message. They see what behavior we as adults are willing to tolerate in society.

And the more we tolerate, the more the kids push the envelope of acceptability. It's what kids do.

And as President Clinton skates through the latest scandal, the question becomes ever more difficult to answer.

"If the president can do it, why can't we?" [[In-content Ad]]