Declaration of Independence do
a good job for our nation (such a
good job that our Constitution is
the longest-lived constitution in
existence). The best statement
of corporate values is Johnson &
Johnson’s credo.
It’s imperative that values be
succinctly stated, rarely changed
and frequently and loudly communicated to everyone (not just
newcomers) that it is expected that
we all adhere to the stated values.
That means you can’t be a good
American and expect theocratic
dominion, whether you are Muslim
or evangelical Christian. The danger, of course, is that the value message can be hyper-extended and
turned into Jingoism—or perverted
and turned into McCarthyism.
Poorly Crafted Values
In a corporate setting, it can turn
into self-justified amoral behavior
and result in horrible repercussions
for society, such as the subprime
crisis and Greek crisis (Goldman
Sachs “helped” the Greek government hide its debt with swaps)—or
huge companies, like GE, which
can manipulate tax law to pay no
taxes. Values-based problems are
usually due to imprecise expression
of values—or poorly crafted values
in general. History shows us that
the benefits of concise, clear communications of well-crafted values
not only outweighs the potential
dangers but creates immense
strength.
Multiculturalism is economi-
cally and politically detrimental. A
society does not benefit by fostering
enclaves of people who refuse to
knit into the society as defined by
its stated values. It is the nation’s
right to purposefully work toward
limiting the operations of those
who do not wish to live by the
stated values, and that citizenship
must overtly include living by our
standards as defined by the founda-
tion documents.
Belief in Equality
Our Constitution defines a cumulative behavior. If we define our values as founded on believing people
are created equally and that our
rights are given by the creator to
the individual, then I don’t understand how you capture someone
and fly them to another country
to torture them and think it’s
somehow OK. I also think there’s a
broad swath of Americans who are
profoundly ignorant of what the
Constitution is. Recent immigrants
have to learn what is written in the
Constitution; they are likely escaping places that don’t believe people
are created equally and endowed
by their creator with human
rights and therefore cherish what
America truly is. In other words, if
you come from a place where you
have no rights, you’re likely to truly
cherish the place that respects your
rights—and that is certainly the
path that the overwhelming majority of American immigrants have
taken for hundreds of years. I
?
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