As It Stands Now, Those Of Us

Love Of Country Cannot Be A Supersized Version Of Individual Narcissism. True Love Of Country-of This Country-is Love Of Our Children, Of A Creed That Promises Them A Better Life Before It Promises Us Anything, And Embraces The Sacrifices Needed To Make That Better Life. True Love Of Country Is Giving Ourselves To A Cause And A Purpose Larger Than Ourselves. And That Cause Is To Make Liberty Worth Having, To Make The Pursuit Of Happiness Deeper Than The Quest For Personal Pleasure, And To Leave A Legacy Of Progress And Possibility.

Our Commitment Should Be To Leave Our Environment In Better Shape Than When We Found It, Our Nation's Fiscal House In Better Order, Our Public Infrastructure In Better Repair, And Our People Better Educated And Healthier. To Indulge In Immediate Gratification And Exploitation Is An Insult To Previous Generations, Who Sacrificed For Us, And Thievery From The Next Generation, Who Depend On Our Virtue.

To Be Sure, The United States Has Profound Problems, Not Least Our Faltering Educational And Physical Infrastructure.

Like The 'little Emperors' Of One-child China, Too Many Boomers Were Taught Early That The World Was Made (or Saved) For Their Comfort And Enjoyment. They Behaved Accordingly, With A Self-indulgence That Was Wholly Rational, Given Their Situation.

Much Of Our National Debate Proceeds As If China And America Were Locked In A Zero-sum Game In Which One's Loss Is Precisely The Other's Gain.