Time Essay: Is the Work Ethic Going Out of Style?

IN the pantheon of virtues that made the U.S. great, none stands higher than the work ethic. As Richard Nixon defined it in a nationwide radio address: "The work ethic holds that labor is good in itself; that a man or woman at work not only makes a contribution to his fellow man but becomes a better person by virtue of the act of working." Lately the President has so often mentioned the work ethic—and so often suggested that it may be endangered—that its veneration and preservation have become something of a campaign issue....