There are some who believe that most Americans would have a difficult time identifying values they may share. I hope that is not true. Recently, I asked on a number of online sites what individuals believed are our shared American values. I didn’t receive many responses. The first table shows the input I received from respondents. The second table is what I found when I researched on the Internet the question: What are the shared American values?
I am interested in which of these values you agree are shared American values and which of them you believe have begun to decay and need to be renewed. And please feel free to add any shared values I may have missed. I will share the results of this survey with you in a future post.
Value Agree Needs to be renewed
Respect
Integrity
Hard Work
Balance between liberty and equality
Free expression of opinion
Cooperation
Rights of the accused and the accuser
Fair Sharing of resources and burdens
Participation in decisions of all who are affected
Rule of law applying to everyone including the powerful
Trust
These were mentioned from various on-line resources:
Respect for Freedom.
Equality
Democracy
Religious Freedom
Right of every individual to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness
Diversity
Bravery
If we look at the array of societies described by historians and anthropologists, we cannot find an instance of a healthy society in which humans have not devised a framework of values, norms of conduct, a moral order. When the community’s broad consensus disintegrates or loses its force, the society sickens. (On Leadership, John Gardner, p. 76)