AMERICA'S FOUNDING VISION

America's Founding Vision

America's Founding Vision

Generosity

Consider the lines of people outside the premises of the Red Cross, which here stretched half a block from the city. When they learned of the attacks on New York and Washington, there were more people willing to donate blood than there were Red Cross volunteers capable of accommodating them. Americans are among the most generous in the world.

Business enterprises flourish, as markets for services. While the benefit may be the reason, the service must be genuine. Many other companies (eg, think tanks, research institutes) to provide services without a profit. Sometimes, non-profit is not the point. Sometimes it takes an action to obtain monetary terms, but because it is right. Write columns to the Internet can be considered a service in this regard. So you can volunteer in a local installation of the Red Cross for those who did.

Courage

Consider a handful of people who fought to regain control of Flight 93. They knew they probably will not get out alive and that his action can not be known, but defended himself anyway, realizing the importance of preventing the plane reaches its destination, the more likely the White House. Todd Beamer has rightly been called a hero. No doubt, Americans, however, others did the same. A writer who does not receive emails often spoke recently of value "[and] the absence of fear, [but] the decision that something is more important than fear."

Resilience

Another feature of America, which applies particularly to the U.S. economy. Today the economy is taking a beating. It's coming back. The "economy" is more than the total shares of millions of people, produce, sell, buy, save, and invest, and so on. Whatever else happens, and although it may take some time, the economy will recover from the events of September 11 - if, of course, the federal government allows.

This list is not bad, therefore, but incomplete. It is suggested that certain values are desirable, but without the fundamental question: what is right. The need for a complete understanding of what once made America a special place has never been greater. President Bush spoke last Thursday about our being "called to defend freedom." What does this mean? Is this more of political jingoism? Without a clear conception of what we are defending, we may find ourselves doing just the opposite. Therefore I will endeavor to complete the list here. Hopefully, placed above the values in a broader context. My list includes: individual freedom, personal responsibility, constitutionally limited government and the rule of law. In large measure, of course, the United States has deviated from each. This problem spells, because together these are the principles of a free society. Since there have been taught in government schools in a long time now, few Americans - even those who think of themselves as "conservatives" - can articulate very well. But if we can re-evaluate where the country is in the light of its founding principles, then we are in more danger than ever of losing ...