Children should be taught to love America. This does not mean whitewashing the grievous stain of slavery on our history but does mean eliminating propaganda suggesting ours is a fundamentally bad country. We need to foster a shared American culture based on dignity and respect for all, which means protecting minorities but also governing with policies most people want. Group should not be set against group. Today’s radicals aim to divide us. We cannot let them succeed.

Individual responsibility is life affirming. Collectivism and dependency encourage debilitating helplessness and a belief that government should fix all our problems. Government should get out of the way. People with new ideas need space to flourish. Red tape must be cut. The Bill of Rights must be defended, differences tolerated, cancel culture rejected. Freedom of conscience, religion, and association must be protected.

American global leadership must be maintained; the world is better for it. U.S. leadership cannot exist only in theory but must be exercised in practice, which requires Washington to use national strength and moral suasion confidently in every multilateral organization. Our military’s only purpose is to win wars or deter them with the potency of its weapons, training, and tactics. A strong military is also non-political; it must cease being used for social experimentation and espousing corrosive dogma that sows division and self-doubt. Our deepening debt militates against our global power. American leadership needs a balanced economy that encourages wealth creation. The silent majority must speak its mind and no longer shrug off what seems to be “just politics.” This means rejecting bullying on race, class, and gender.

America has become increasingly stratified, with some people elevated and deferred to improperly, while others are denigrated or ignored. This is not what America is supposed to be. It was founded on the belief that ordinary adults should have an equal say about how they are governed and by whom. Equality does not delegate democratic authority to experts, removing it from those whom voters have chosen to do that job. This must remain a country that rejects princes or potentates. It must be a country of laws. Equality before the law should be the only enforced equality. True equality also means respecting life, supporting the most vulnerable among us, including those unborn and those in decline at the end of their lives. The inegalitarian assertion that vulnerable people have less claim to society’s protection amounts to the tyrannical idea that might makes right.

There is an active effort to dismantle the traditional family. Black Lives Matter, a Marxist organization embraced by gentry liberals, says the traditional family is a racist institution. In truth it is the most effective social, cultural, educational, and healthcare institution of all. The Washington Examiner will support policies that foster family formation and parental authority, which promote freedom and resist central control. Decisions should be left whenever possible to authorities closest to the people governed by them. Charities, community groups, churches, towns, counties, and states should shoulder most responsibilities, as the Constitution either prescribes or implies. Efforts by the federal government to arrogate states’ rights should be fought back.

Increasingly, people are condemned based on accusations alone, without evidence or the right of reply. Fairness and justice demand due process. They also demand appropriate law enforcement, which requires supporting police forces with proper funding and training. Sanctuary cities, vandalism, and all forms of violence must be opposed. The law must be respected, and Political and civic authorities should demonstrate high standards of public behavior. The electoral foundation of our democracy, which is also the foundation of our laws, must also be fair; this means protecting election integrity with voter ID.