"A rousing aspirational assessment of American values." - Kirkus Reviews There is a path for Americans to find common ground and revitalize our freedom and democracy. America's promise of freedom and democracy is powerful and inspirational - freedom unleashes our human potential by incentivizing us to maximize our spiritual, emotional, intellectual, and physical potential, and democracy is the only viable means for free people to collectively give their consent to be governed. But this promise is at a crossroads, stalemated by fear, anger, and division that has swamped our public life.
Our current American stalemate does not require a political or cultural revolution. What we require instead is a renewed understanding and appreciation of the fundamental principles that empower our freedom and bolster our democracy:
-Fairness, the foundation of freedom; -Responsibility, the price of freedom; -Engagement, the inspiration for freedom; -Enterprise, the engine of freedom; -Discipline, the conscience of freedom; -Opportunity, the product of freedom; and -Morality, the soul of freedom.
This book explores the impact each of these Freedom Principles has had on the author's life and illustrates how they can inform and guide our individual lives and help manage and support our collective relationships. The Freedom Principles provide a platform of common understanding and values that can help us better navigate our differences and disagreements and make them more a source of strength than a seed of disintegration and destruction. Embracing the Freedom Principles gives us the strength to resist fear, anger, and hate; it allows us to solve problems and find success; it enables freedom to be a way of life, not just a slogan.
With a renewed personal commitment to these Freedom Principles, we can overcome our fears, begin to heal some of our divisions, become more comfortable trusting ourselves and our fellow citizens, and work more purposefully and effectively in pursuit of our individual happiness. We can write a new chapter of the American story that recognizes freedom and democracy as our shared American value.
