Guardrails, Now More Than Ever

In 1993, terror gripped America when David Gunn, an abortion doctor in Florida, was shot and killed by the disturbed extremist Michael Griffin. To Daniel Henninger, a member of the Wall Street Journal editorial board, this incident was more than just a tragic act of wanton violence. It was the latest symptom of a profound moral sickness afflicting the American soul.

Henninger diagnosed this sickness in a famous editorial titled “No Guardrails.” It argued that during the latter half of the 20th century, the “barriers of acceptable political and personal conduct” had all but crumbled in American life. Rules and norms of right behavior had been disregarded, and the virtue of self-restraint had been abandoned. America had plunged into a morass of “social and personal dysfunction” embodied by figures such as Griffin and Fran Stephanie Trutt, an animal rights activist who had attempted to bomb a surgical-supplies company four years earlier.

About the Author

Guy Denton

Guy Denton is a William F. Buckley Jr. Fellow in Political Journalism.

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In 1993, terror gripped America when David Gunn, an abortion doctor in Florida, was shot and killed by the disturbed extremist Michael Griffin. To Daniel Henninger, a member of the Wall Street Journal editorial board, this incident was more than just a tragic act of wanton violence. It was the latest symptom of a profound moral sickness afflicting the American soul.

Henninger diagnosed this sickness in a famous editorial titled “No Guardrails.” It argued that during the latter half of the 20th century, the “barriers of acceptable political and personal conduct” had all but crumbled in American life. Rules and norms of right behavior had been disregarded, and the virtue of self-restraint had been abandoned. America had plunged into a morass of “social and personal dysfunction” embodied by figures such as Griffin and Fran Stephanie Trutt, an animal rights activist who had attempted to bomb a surgical-supplies company four years earlier.