There will be trying times during Obama's presidency and liberty will need staunch defenders. Can Obama reshape liberalism to be as it was under F.D.R. a fighting faith unapologetically patriotic and strong in the defense of liberty? That would be a service to our country.
President Ford was a devoted decent man of impeccable integrity who put service to his country before his own self interest. He helped heal our nation during a time of crisis provided steady leadership and restored people's faith in the presidency and in government.
Faith is the first factor in a life devoted to service. Without it nothing is possible. With it nothing is impossible.
Failure to properly control our borders costs citizens in many ways: schools become overcrowded medical resources are stretched too thin other government services are overtaxed and taxes increase further.
It is hard as an American to support the failure of American military operations in Iraq. Such failure will bring with it the death and wounding of many American service members and many more Iraqis.
There is an increasingly pervasive sense not only of failure but of futility. The legislative process has become a cruel shell game and the service system has become a bureaucratic maze inefficient incomprehensible and inaccessible.
There's full consensus in the military that women shouldn't be in person-to-person combat. I don't know if we have enough experience to know whether this is the right approach. But women can be elsewhere. We have mandatory military service in Chile. I pushed for women in all areas.
How much do you as a consumer value a positive experience with a brand or its customer service department? How willing are you to share that with your friends? How inclined are you to let that person know that you're interaction with them was positive?
The highest political buzz word is not liberty equality fraternity or solidarity it is service.
A formally recognized equality does however accord the smaller nations a position which they should be able to use increasingly in the interest of humanity as a whole and in the service of the ideal.