Self-Containment Policy

[Ken White]

With Bob. See, even Colonels get one right on occasion...

[Bob's World]

I'll mark today up as a success. I even got a workout in.

At the risk of stumbling and screwing this all up, the word that comes to mind as being critical to a new approach is "Character."

We talk a great deal about values, and probably too little about Principles and interests; but character is a component that may well be the missing ingredient.

It is said that a person's character is defined by what they do when they believe no one is watching. For a nation that may well translate into what a nation does when they believe no one can stop them. Unchallenged power is a heady thing. Particularly when you are the guy who prays the loudest and sits in the front pew at Church and is the quickest to condemn the faults of others. Puts a lot of pressure on a person, more on a country.

I think it is time to move "character" up several notches as a criteria for foreign policy. George Washington was a man of remarkable character. Perhaps a good place to start looking for advice on national character would be his farewell address and his record in general as the first and principle shaper of our initial national character.