Our Mission
A Charge To Keep
Responsibility in Government is founded upon American Exceptionalism.
The United States of America is inherently different – exceptional – from other nations in that it was founded on a set of republican ideals – liberty, equality before the law, individual responsibility, representative democracy, and laissez-faire economics – rather than on heritage, ethnicity, or status.
Critical to our mission is our belief in these principles enshrined by our nation’s founders in the United States Declaration of Independence and Constitution; That governments must protect the natural rights and liberties of the people; That limited, constitutionally enumerated, government best protects those liberties and rights; and That freedom requires virtue, and responsible government safeguards liberty so people have agency through self-governance – a meaningful choice.
Responsibility in Government also believes what makes America great is not what we have, but what we do. Ours is an earned exceptionalism – In an earned America, the ability to create a better life for future generations is born of individual responsibility and collective opportunity.
America is the only country in the world deriving legitimacy from natural rights and law rather than cultural and ethnic differences. Anyone can be accepted as a real American by adopting our creed and way of life, and importantly, by believing in the country. Americans recognize their varied ethnic and cultural origins, but in the end, come together as Americans.
Our Mission
A Charge To Keep
We see America as a “nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal," and we are charged to ensure that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
As powerful as this idea of America is, it is under serious threat. By many measures, pride in this nation is at a record low. A general lack of enthusiasm about the nation’s past and present is palpable. People’s aspirations for economic betterment and political liberty have deserved better from government than results delivered upon the promises of policies and candidates promoted by our institutions and political parties for many years.
Our Founders knew the best way to keep peace and order is equality under laws that respect the rights and liberties of all, assume individual talents and protect personal opportunity.
They also knew responsible government required a well-informed citizenry who could stand vigilant, speak out, and organize against self-interested people or groups from controlling government at public expense and safety.
We believe the America we all long for – the “shining city on a hill” – the world’s beacon and model is not only defined by the rights given to individuals, but the way individuals use those rights.
That’s the American Way and it is our mission to promote a renaissance in responsible government supported by the principles of our universal creed, grounded in America’s Founding principles: natural law, liberty, limited government, individual rights, check and balance in government, popular sovereignty, the civilizing role of religion in society, and the crucial role of civil society and civil institutions in grounding and mediating our democracy and our freedom.
Each of us can be exceptional, but it requires sacrifice of convenience or personal gain to do so.
Our earned America requires an exceptionalism that springs from the decision of the millions of our fellow Americans who choose principle over pride to disagree and debate without hating each other.
We as Americans believe these principles are right and true for all – not an entitled few – and we ask you to join us.
