Enough Said.....

Ayn Rand


To live, man must hold three things as the supreme and ruling values of his life: Reason—Purpose—Self-esteem. Reason, as his only tool of knowledge—Purpose, as his choice of the happiness which that tool must proceed to achieve—Self-esteem, as his inviolate certainty that his mind is competent to think and his person is worthy of happiness, which means: is worthy of living.
For the New Intellectual, 128

Westpoint's Honor Code

Westpoint's honor code says, "We don't lie, cheat, or steal. And we don't tolerate those who do"!!! I respect this standard, as it maintains an order in society that values each equally.

Whenever we lie, cheat or steal, we do dishonor others by taking away another's expectation of rightful "life" and "liberty". These are values that protect our free society and protect justice, and we must not naively trust those who do not hold these standards. Those that do not adhere to these values are those that are not 'Westernized". We believe in the "rule of law".

Some cultures believe that lying, cheating and stealing is justified because of "honor" of "God", or one's family! These cultures speak a particular ethical language which ignores a universal standard of inclusion of diversity or individual rights. You must speak their particular cultural language to be valued and "in" the "honor" crowd... These are often religious cultures and these are based on "group think". Conformity is the "standard" that defines one's life, not liberty. It is the culture of children, whose parents determine what their child will and will not do or be. It is the "Nanny State" in political terms. Adults, who are free,  should outgrow such confining and conforming "traditions" and come to understand their own personal preferences and values.

I respect our "men in uniform" because they value and respect our "social order" which values liberty and justice above all other values. Individuals matter in American understanding and culture. I value that as all Americans should!

What Unites and Makes America Distinct? (or exceptional)

America was founded on liberty. This is what unifies us, not God. The problem today, is there is a global move to disintegrate American exceptionalism through unifying under God. And such moves are re-defining our Constitution, as well as our understanding of our nation-state.

America did not prescribe to a "one size fits all" religion.America was founded on Protestant "faith", not prescribed religion per se. This was our distinctiveness, religious liberty. But, today, it seems there is a move to define God, in montheism. This is going backwards, not forwards in our understanding of " the human" and  "the humane". If God exists, He cannot be proved. But, this is the point to those of piestic faith. Lifestyle is the focus of such. But, whenever piestic faith is prescribed by law, we have a regimented faith, where people are no longer free, but in bondage to the prescription.

It becomes more and more evident that Islam is not going to be tolerant of others, but want tolerance toward their religious convictions/claims. This is dangerous territory, as humans have "been down this road" before. What are we to do? We should not respond or live in fear of terrorism, or the terrorists have "won".

Life is not of value, so how do we battle such, when our society values life and its diversity? We are a humane society and believe that human life is valuable above all other forms of life, at least this was the traditional understanding. Today, religion and science have undermined our basic value of life and liberty because of their various understanding of priorities. God is at the end of religion, while utility is at the other end, of scientific commitment.

What transpires to and in our society, when the basic values that have held us together, liberty, have become challenged? Liberty is the foundation and is ordered under law. Authoritarian regimes and ways of understanding the world (mathmatical) undermine this basic value.

Patrick Henry said it well, "Give me liberty, or give me death"!

Projection As a Source of Psychological Survival and Goal /Value Formation

Heroes are the leaders that represent our values. Those who represent these values are prone to gain a following, even though this may not be their intent. And those that represent our values in a Representative Republic are valued for thier defense of our ideals of life and liberty.

Our representative Republic was formed to create a more 'perfect union', where individuals could attain the "right to life". The right to life is a basic need in Maslow's hierarchy of needs, as without the basics of physical and emotional sustenance, there will be no 'goal setting" or reaching human potential.

Although the "right to life' is a basic need, our Founders understood that without liberty, life would not be valued. Liberty is of primary importance to uphold human value, because without it, an individual is a product, a number, or a project. Liberty must be first for life to survive fully and abundantly to reach its full potential. No one has the right to suggest how another human being should live their life. Life is valued not because of how one behaves within the boundary of law, or what job one has, but because life is a value in itself. And these liberties are what are protected by the Constitution.

Life and liberty will always breed "bones of contention" between the values of the consevative and liberal, and how these views are held in social and fiscal areas of policy making. None of us will agree on every single issue. And this is as it should be in a free society, where we are free to disagree, discuss, dissent, and petition our Representatives for a "more perfect union".

The "pursuit of happiness" is allowing liberty of conscience. No one should judge another in how they choose to live thier life, within the boundary of law. Persuasion can be useful for those that feel so constrained to make a difference in others lives for change. But, authoritarianism in any form is anathema to a free society. We elect our leaders to represent our interests And our representatives in Congress are responsible for maintaining a culture for/of peace, as this is what the 'rule of law' should do; bring peaceful resolution. I do not believe that we should have a positive view of the law, but a negative view, because of the primary value of liberty of conscience.

We value our laws as these are what make for "our perfect union". And this is the ethical "ideal" of human value in life and liberty.