A nation's destiny is not the result of arbitrary fate but the inevitable consequence of the values to which its people subscribe. Numerous historical studies have shown that attitudes with regard to personal excellence, individual accomplishment, and self-control predict national periods of rise, ascendancy and decline.



The people who flocked to America's shores between 1620 and 1900 weren't looking for a hand out. They didn't ask for assistance. All they wanted was liberty to do the best that they could with their lives. It was given to them, and they turned the United States into a land or promise.



A people's values are evident in the literature they create. The most popular works of a hundred and fifty years ago were filled with stories of self-reliance, faith, honesty, perseverance, and victorious achievement. The modern media, by contrast, careen from one "crisis" to the next. The emphasis is on helplessness and victimization. Politicians expand their followings by offering to "help" the citizen with things that he ought to be dealing with himself.



The old emphasis on self-reliance made America great. Will the modern emphasis on dependency destroy her? Read Personal Character and National Destiny.