Part Of Courage Is Simple Consistency.

We Don't Need To 'control' Free Speech, We Need To Control Ourselves.

What We Need Most Right Now, At This Moment, Is A Kind Of Patriotic Grace - A Grace That Takes The Long View, Apprehends The Moment We're In, Comes Up With Ways Of Dealing With It, And Eschews The Politically Cheap And Manipulative. That Admits Affection And Respect. That Encourages Them. That Acknowledges That The Small Things That Divide Us Are Not Worthy Of The Moment; That Agrees That The Things That Can Be Done To Ease The Stresses We Feel As A Nation Should Be Encouraged, While Those That Encourage Our Cohesion As A Nation Should Be Supported.

A Speech Is Poetry: Cadence, Rhythm, Imagery, Sweep! A Speech Reminds Us That Words, Like Children, Have The Power To Make Dance The Dullest Beanbag Of A Heart.

Our Patriotic Fervor Was The Result Of The Old And Widespread Belief In The Idea Of American Exceptionalism, The Idea That America Was A New Thing In History, Different From Other Countries. Other Nations Had Evolved One Way Or Another, Evolved From Tribes From A Gathering Of Clans, From Inevitabilities Of Language And Tradition And Geography. But America Was Born, And Born Of Ideas: That All Men Are Created Equal, That They Have Been Given By God Certain Rights That Can Be Taken From Them By No Man, And That Those Rights Combine To Create A Thing Called Freedom.

The Irish Are Often Nervous About Having The Appropriate Face For The Occasion. They Have To Be Happy At Weddings, Which Is A Strain, So They Get Depressed; They Have To Be Sad At Funerals, Which Is Easy, So They Get Happy.