The problem is that Americans use the state as a moral compass. For libertarians, it is often frustrating to explain that advocating the decriminalization of x is not synonymous with endorsing x.

A nation cannot be truly great without a moral compass.

Much of the world's moral compass is broken. The moral north reads south and the moral south reads north.

My moral compass swings far to the left, but when it comes to gratuitous violence, I have trouble.

A man might desire something for a moment, while a larger part of him rejects it. You'll need to learn to judge people by their actions, not their thoughts.

The co-called moral compass is a part of the human cognition, and when that compass comes into action through human behavior, it turns an ordinary biological creature into a unique moral being of conscience.