Volume 1 Issue 1

A Prospectus

These are trying times for the American People, of that there is most certainly a consensus among us. With wars abroad and economic difficulties at home, the United States is facing an unprecedented set of challenges not seen in a generation. As thousands of soldiers prepare for an upcoming surge to Afghanistan, and hundreds of billions of government dollars make their way into Corporate America, we face an uncertain future. We hear arguments for increased government intervention, and dissenters pleading for just the opposite. So numerous and powerful are the arguments on both sides of our crisis that we see wise and good men on the wrong side as well as the right. This occurrence itself commends moderation and caution to those who believe themselves to be right in any controversy.

Just as such climates of crisis commend moderation and caution; a careful look into the experiences of those before us is an oft proclaimed method for overcoming present and avoiding future difficulties. The past reveals useful patterns, and, more importantly, a clear explanation of where we were and how we arrived at our current condition. Such a reflection is what I seek to explore through Uncommon Truth, a reflection into the motivations of our founding ideals and the American Identity. Only through an understanding of our past principles can we truly discern how we arrived in our present crisis. Though today we are faced with an unprecedented set of challenges, our generation does not stand unarmed in the face of this enemy, but in fact has the triumphant experiences of history that stand as evidence to the dogged endurance of the American character.

Created as a nation unlike any other, the United States has at its foundations the bold and lasting legacy of republican government embodied in a framework of ideals and laws created for the continued preservation of freedom from one generation to the next. Though the challenges we face take on a frightening form, they cannot nor will they ever, exceed the capacity of a free nation to overcome. However, it is not enough to merely consider the current crisis in terms of day-to-day policy mistakes or errors of political incompetency.
It must be seen that when America falters, it is a result of time’s subtle forgetfulness which leads to the structural decay of the institutions and liberty upon which this nation stands. If this nation is lost amidst trouble and turmoil, the guiding light through these dark days must be the shining torch of liberty and all that has gone into creating a state capable of protecting it, this being the most precious of rights.

In the face of a challenge, we must be adaptable, but not at the price of sacrificing the time tested ideals and traditions of liberty’s defense upon the alter of political expediency. As Thomas Paine wrote in The Crisis, “What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value.” Change must be based upon a solid foundation; it must be anchored in the fundamental elements and principles that have stood as the guardians of American liberty for so very long. May we not make the mistake of believing that freedom is the last thing to go or that because we are Americans our liberty is secure. It is we who endanger its perpetuation by esteeming too lightly what has been painstakingly preserved at such a price. In all troubles big and small, for these United States, the danger is not that of an outside conqueror or an economic collapse, but that liberty would be trampled, that in our angst, we would forget the patience and endurance that is the cost of living free and doom ourselves for the immediate gain of economic prosperity. In an effort to forgo such a tragic end, Uncommon Truth will seek to define the torch of liberty, the American Identity, and our founding principles in order to remind us all of how we achieved such great success and freedom in the past, so that we might continue to do so in the future.

- Publius