American Values

The U.S. Presidential race has provided lots of drama and distraction this summer, at least for me.  Despite the fact that my vote is pretty much determined, I have found it hard to tune out the reality TV aspect of it all.  Every four years through the votes we cast at the ballot box we essentially “hire” a new president.  Which got me to thinking…

Companies that run on EOS regularly use their core values as a hiring filter.  This is one of the first tests of a job candidate - do they share our core values?  So, what if we assessed the candidates against American Values? And what are they, anyway?  I think it is easy to confuse our personal values with those of our country.  I also think that core values can shift over time if they are not culturally reinforced.

So, I tried to identify values that seem to be intrinsic to our country, and reviewed the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution to do this.  Here are ideas from both of these documents (including constitutional amendments) that strike me as being worthy of consideration as “American Core Values”:

EQUALITY - All of us are created equal.

LIFE - Our society should promote/preserve our mutual safety from harm.

LIBERTY - The ability to move freely throughout the country without having to justify or explain ourselves.

PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS - The ability to do whatever pleases us, while not infringing on others’ ability to do the same.

Here are a few others that may qualify as values, but perhaps not:

SEPARATION OF POWERS - Should the creation of three co-equal branches be considered a value?  Perhaps - but maybe the underlying value here is “We want to govern ourselves in such a way that no one has too much power.  We don’t want a king.”

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE - The 1st Amendment states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”  Many of the early colonizers of North America were fleeing religious persecution, so this amendment was meant to address concerns about such persecution happening here.  On the flip side, the Establishment Clause prevents the federal government from creating an official national church or favoring one set of religious beliefs over another.  Again, this is somewhat structural, but it feels like there is a value baked into this structural consideration.

Lastly, I would suggest that FAIRNESS is an American value.  Lots of amendments to the constitution point to this - like the right to not incriminate one’s self, the right to not be tried multiple times for the same charge, due process requirements, etc.  If government is going to limit a citizen’s liberty and pursuit of happiness, the process by which this happens needs to be as fair as possible.

Perhaps I’ve overlooked something - let me know if you feel there are any values missing from this framework.

Now comes the fun part - for each candidate, rate them as either Positive, Neutral, or Negative relative to each of these values and see how they rate.  No, I’m not going to show you how I rate the candidates…we can all do this for ourselves.

As individual voters, nothing is stopping us from adding additional values to this framework.  Do so as you see fit.  My intention today is to try to articulate and focus on those values that are intrinsic to America, and offer an objective framework for evaluating the candidates.

We’ll see who America selects as it’s next leader.  I’m sure it will be an interesting Summer and Fall as we sort this out.

Sunday Supper
For Sunday Supper this week, this Thai Beef Salad will take advantage of all the fresh summer produce.  If you want to make your next watermelon a little more interesting, try this Watermelon Salad with Aleppo Pepper.  For a classic summer flavor, this Barbecue Chicken recipe is fantastic.

Sunday Music
This Sunday, I offer the one and only Chucho Valdés on piano at the NPR Tiny Desk.  And how about this live performance of Tour De Force by Dizzy Gillespie with too many other trumpeters to name.  Enjoy!

If you know anyone who might like this essay, please share it with them. 

Have a great week ahead!  Offer support to others.  Make good use of this day.  And let me know how I can help.

Peace & Love,