William Damon - Failing Liberty 101: How We Are Leaving Young Americans Unprepared for Citizenship in a Free Society

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Failing Liberty 101

The Hoover Institution gratefully acknowledges
the following individuals and foundations
for their significant support of the
Boyd and Jill Smith Task Force
on Virtues of a Free Society:

B OYD AND J ILL S MITH
W ILLIAM E . S IMON F OUNDATION

The Hoover Institution gratefully acknowledges
R OBERT AND M ARION O STER
for their significant support of this publication.

Failing Liberty

How We Are Leaving Young Americans
Unprepared for Citizenship in a Free Society

William Damon

H O O V E R I N S T I T U T I O N P R E S S

STANFORD UNIVERSITY STANFORD, CALIFORNIA

The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace, founded
at Stanford University in 1919 by Herbert Hoover, who went
on to become the thirty-first president of the United States, is
an interdisciplinary research center for advanced study on
domestic and international affairs. The views expressed in
its publications are entirely those of the authors and do not
necessarily reflect the views of the staff, officers, or Board of
Overseers of the Hoover Institution.

www.hoover.org

Hoover Institution Press Publication No. 611

Hoover Institution at Leland Stanford Junior University,
Stanford, California 94305-6010

Copyright 2011 by the Board of Trustees of the
Leland Stanford Junior University

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the
publisher and copyright holders.

First printing 2011

Manufactured in the United States of America

Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from
the Library of Congress.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8179-1364-9 (cloth. : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8179-1366-3 (e-book)

To Dick and Sue Jacobsen
for their friendship, support,
and good work in education.

CONTENTS

by John Raisian

C H A P T E R O N E

C H A P T E R T W O

C H A P T E R T H R E E

C H A P T E R F O U R

FOREWORD

T he Hoover Institutions Boyd and Jill Smith Task Force on Virtues of a Free Society aims to clarify the beliefs, practices, and institutions that play a crucial role in forming and sustaining liberty, and a distinctly American way of life. By examining the political thought and culture of the American founding, the historical evolution of government and society, and changing public opinion, the group will reflect on the fabric of our civil society. The current core membership of the task force includes Peter Berkowitz, Gerard V. Bradley, David Brady, James W. Ceaser, William Damon, Robert P. George, Tod Lindberg, Harvey C. Mansfield, Russell Muirhead, Clifford Orwin, and Diana Schaub.

In this volume, Failing Liberty 101 , William Damon explores the links between virtue and liberty in our young population of American citizens. Damons research argues that the adult community (parents, educators, intellectuals, and public leaders) is failing to prepare the next generation to be responsible citizens and that unless we pay attention and meet the challenge as stewards of a priceless heritage, our nation and the future prospects of all will suffer.

John Raisian

Tad and Dianne Taube Director

Hoover Institution, Stanford University

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

T his book was written in connection with the Boyd and Jill Smith Task Force on Virtues of a Free Society at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace. I thank Boyd and Jill Smith for their generous support of the task forces efforts and for their interest in the work that I present in this book. Peter Berkowitz and David Brady have been the task force co-chairs, and I thank them and the other members for the many good insights and constructive comments that they offered me during my presentations of the preliminary chapter drafts. I am also grateful to John Raisian, David Davenport, Denise Elson, and Marianne Jacobi for the extremely helpful support and assistance they have given me during my task force work.

In my office at Stanford, Heather Malin, Parissa Jahromi, and Brandy Quinn have helped me conduct the research on American identity and civic purpose that I have described in this book. Heather has contributed to the manuscript in other ways as well, including organizing comments, reviewing library sources, and convening discussion groups. Elissa Hirsh has given me able assistance in checking references and other editorial tasks.

Many of the quotations from American leaders that I cite throughout the chapters of this book are drawn from a list compiled by David Gowdy, president of the Washington, Jefferson & Madison Institute, and passed along to me by Dr. John M. Templeton Jr., president of the John Templeton Foundation. The Foundation also supported the June 2010 American Identity Renewed conference that I refer to in Chapter 4 of the book. I also thank Dr. Templeton and Kent Hill, vice president for character development at the foundation, for the valuable ideas and gracious feedback they have provided as I have pursued this line of inquiry.

INTRODUCTION

Liberty can no more exist without virtue... than the body can
live and move without a soul. John Adams

W henever we speak about the future of any society, we are really speaking about todays young and their upcoming prospects. Preparing young people for bright futures is one of the core obligations of every adult community. Of course, this means providing the young people with the vocational skills they will need to prosper. But vocational skills alone are not sufficient. Beyond such skills, there are qualities of character that determine the success or failure of a persons life. Foremost among these qualities are the virtues that make possible a life of honor and integrity.

To ensure a bright future for young people and the society they will inherit, every adult community must take seriously its responsibility to raise young people for lives of virtue. Failure to do so inevitably will result in societal decadenceliterally, a falling away, from the Latin decadere . World history has shown us time and again what happens to a society when its citizens no longer prize virtue. Citizens have an obligation to preserve the benefits of their societies for the future as well as the presentwhich means an obligation to foster virtuous character in the young. Preparing young people for responsible citizenship in a free society is a crucial part of this obligation for adult citizens in the United States.

This books main message is disclosed in its title: at the present time, we are failing to meet this obligation for major sectors of our youth population, to the detriment of their life prospects and those of liberty and democracy in our society. The problems I discuss in this booka decline in civic purpose and patriotism, a crisis of faith, a rise in cynicism, self-absorption, ignorance, and indifference to the common goodcan be found in sectors of the adult population as well as among the young. But these problems are especially poignant when found among young people, who are in a formative time of life typically characterized by idealism, hopefulness, and elevated ambition. As they search for meaning in their lives, their minds are often open to all possible choices about what to believe, how to live, and whatif anything to dedicate themselves to. When young people find nothing positive to believe in, they drift in unconstructive and sometimes de structive directions. If we take our adult responsibilities seriously, we must try to do everything necessary to see that all of our young people develop the character and competence they need to find purpose in their lives and a positive way to contribute to their society.

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