Bad behavior has a long history in the U.S.

History coughs up plenty of precedent for modern bad behavior. Politics is dirty today, but not as dirty as it was through much of the 19th century. Business is diabolically heartless today — often at the expense of the average person — but no more diabolical than the Robber Barrons of the Guilded Age.

By TIM ROWLAND

August 20, 2011