Society Becomes How You Behave.

True Patriots Believe That We Should Measure A Citizen's Worth By Contribution To Country And Community, Not By Wealth Or Power-that Those Whom America Has Benefited Most Should Contribute In Proportion To Their Good Fortune-and That Serving Others Should Be Esteemed More Highly Than Serving Self.

Honest People Know That The Road To Success And Virtue Always Involves Shared Sacrifice, Hard Work, And Gratification Postponed. Telling People Otherwise Isn't Leadership, It Is Pandering.

If Half-black Barack Obama Had Decided Years Ago To Call Himself White - Which His Genes Certainly Entitled Him To Do - His Story Would Have Carried Very Different Meaning. If Millions Of Part-black People Had Followed Him Into Whiteness, Then The N.a.a.c.p. Would Be In True Crisis.

Conservatives Forget That Citizenship Is More Than A Thing To Withhold From Immigrants. Progressives Forget It's More Than A Set Of Rights.

We All Want Merit To Mean Something, And We All May Be Tempted To Reduce That Meaning To Something Measurable And Concrete Like An Sat Score. The Reality, Though, Is That Who Deserves Entry Into An Institution Depends On What The Institution Exists To Do.