In a series of op ed pieces in the New York Times, and in a well-received new book, columnist and commentator David Brooks argues that character is less a matter of reason, than a question of habit.

Echoing UVA experimental psychologist Jonathan Haidt, Brooks makes the case that, with rare exceptions, ethical decision making is instinctive, preconditioned by both our genes and by repeated habits of thought, by stories, legends and metaphor. And indeed, brain scans have long revealed that for most people, neurons linked to decision begin to fire well before neurons linked to rational analysis when most people consider questions of justice, harm, respect, loyalty, or things they see as, somehow, disgusting.

Fiction as well as fact helps shape those instinctive patterns of thought, and after the fact, helps justify them. Thus, in time, it can be argued, you are not what you eat, but what you read, and see, and hear and admire.

Be careful.

In a recent editorial in Maine's Island Institute's newspaper entitled "Lifeboat Ethics," the writer discusses how individuals help each other in island communities, much as those in a lifeboat work in harmony so they can make it to safety. He warned transplants from cities and suburbs that they would not escape from responsibility in an island home, but would need to pitch in to solve community problems, often cooperating with folks they didn't particularly like.

In recent weeks we have seen enough uncooperative behavior in the federal government – especially in the Congress – to wonder whether anyone there recognizes that we are all crewmen on the Lifeboat America, adrift on the seas of planet Earth. Today that lifeboat is neither manageable or seaworthy:

* It will capsize if we do not replace unstable debt with monetary ballast, sacrifices many seem unwilling to make.

* Around our boat the climate is deteriorating; sharks from rival cultures snap at us.

* Our lifeboat's small engine is short of safe-to-use fuel.

* We lack enough oars to put every able-bodied adult to work.

* More passengers are growing old and unwell; medicines are costly.

* Training of the young potential crewmen is inadequate.

* Some among us are unwilling to work with those of different cultures, religions, or ethnicity.

* Most important, the oarsmen on the Starboard (Right) side are not rowing in harmony with those on the Port (Left) side.

The coxswain, nominally in command, is thus powerless to steer the Lifeboat America on any reasonable course to safety. You get the picture. In the face of present danger we are disorganized and disunited.

And it isn't hard to expand the analogy to Lifeboat Planet Earth, with a coxswain called America presently showing little aptitude for seamanship.

Our present situation is not without precedent.

At the first Easter, over 2000 years ago, Jesus' Resurrection left Christians with a great Commandment for these times: "Thou Shalt Love thy Neighbor as Thyself," a message that eventually permeated the entire western world. On July Fourth, 235 years ago, Americans declared their freedom, with leaders pledging "to each other, our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor" to preserve it. A great nation was born, grew, and prospered.

In April 150 years ago that nation broke apart over differences between North and South. That four year disaster cost 600,000 American lives, but eventually it brought freedom from slavery, and stimulated the settling of the American West and the industrial revolution. From 1929 to 1945, America struggled through the Great Depression and World War II, but went on to build a better world by helping resurrect its defeated enemies, now its neighbors. And it prospered mightily itself.

It is hard to predict the outcome of America's current struggle with reality. Publicly, both Parties seem locked in uncompromising partisanship demanded by their extremists. Purple deplores the disappearance of moderates, many eliminated by their own Party-mates. But signs of reason may emerge. Both sides have outlined comprehensive fiscal plans, fairly similar in goals, but differing in how to reach them. Purple's Easter hope is that both sides' leaders recognize they must reach a middle ground, and today's howling is only to pacify the extremists.

But one can't be sure. The 2012 election impends. Politicians believe more citizens vote their emotions than vote their minds. When facts conflict with wishes, reality is often discredited. So, as a passenger on Lifeboat America, Purple urges those at sea with him to stick with reality, to urge others to do likewise, hoping that this crisis ends peacefully, with fewer casualties than on similar past occasions. If we handle it well, our next seagoing experience will be as coxswain of Lifeboat Planet Earth, a vessel already in battle with the globe's natural and political seas.

Easter is high time for us to be neighbors, and practice Lifeboat Ethics.