America's founding fathers, men speaking for the people, called on a higher power and pledged everything they held dear to an attractive ideal.
Those men vowed to stand united unto death for an honorable cause - a cause of liberty and justice.
They cited the preeminence of natural law, the divinely inspired moral principles which order society, as justification to demand the status of free men.
Appealing to the supreme judge of the world and in the name of, and by the authority of the good people they declared the American colonies to be free and independent states.
Disposed to assume a station among the free nations of the earth, Americans fought for, secured, and then specified their rights.
The rights these free men secured are, as Alexander Hamilton put it: "The sacred rights of mankind...
not to be rummaged for, among old parchments, or musty records.
They are written, as with a sun beam in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of divinity itself; and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power.
" The ideals, the virtues held in such high regard by our founding fathers, purport a long ancestry.
They are found in every major world religious tradition.
They were espoused by the Greek philosophers of antiquity beginning with Plato and Aristotle.
The works of these philosophers were incorporated into Christian doctrine by the likes of Augustine.
The strength and majesty of these arguments correspond to the wisdom of Jesus and are recognized in the teachings of the Buddha, Confucius and Muhammad.
Thomas Jefferson was profoundly influenced by the words of George Mason, the works of John Locke, and the eloquent writings of Cicero concerning human rights and principles of government.
The people of this nation internalized these values as a means of ensuring peace and prosperity, and as a way of keeping the promise of a vibrant and prosperous future alive for ensuing generations.
Cicero wrote some twenty-five hundred years ago that both justice and law are derived from a higher power and that natural law obliges us to contribute to the general good of the larger society.
He stressed that human laws are to provide for "the safety of citizens, the preservation of states, and the tranquility and happiness of human life.
" He asserts the best means of promoting the virtues which tend toward our own happiness is by living with others in perfect harmony and engaging in charity for mutual benefit.
America was born and built through the strength of proven values.
The United States will prosper or decline in accordance with the health and vitality of the principles embraced by members of society.
It's up to Americans to nurture values through families, through commerce, and through politics.
As economist and philosopher John Stuart Mill once observed: "A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight; nothing he cares about more than his personal safety; is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertion of better men then himself.
" Americans will soon be casting votes, attempting to influence the course of government and in turn the course of the nation.
Politics is the process of allocating power and is wholly inadequate to the crisis at hand.
The answer to America's challenges does not lie with politicians - solutions to what ails us rest with the people.
Commitment to uncommon values built America.
Only by renewing that commitment will the United States survive and thrive.
Let us, Americans, take responsibility for America's future.
Uncommon commitment to uncommon values is what we need.