Great nations don't have to remind others of their greatness. They merely have to be great.

If you don't like tomato soup, you don't buy tomato soup.

Freedom is a messy affair, and sometimes people get their feelings hurt but we think the trade-off is worth the aggravation.

Capitalism, the ogre of those protesting Wall Street, has suffered a public relations crisis in the wake of the global economic collapse. But any remedy to the systemic corruption that led to the collapse should not displace recognition that capitalism creates wealth. Capitalism, and no other economic system, has raised millions from poverty around the world.

Pending catastrophe is not an easy notion to entertain, much less sustain. Americans, moreover, have a low tolerance for doom and gloom. We are the nation of optimism, after all. We elect leaders who promise hope and change. We are the shining city on a hill. But what happens when the lights go out?

People in positions of power and privilege have a duty to perform at a higher level. If not them, then who?

But principles defended at the expense of pragmatic application is the business of priests.