Is America great? The bedrock of greatness is values. Values express what we find good and worthwhile — the world as we would like it to be. Values shape who we are and what we are: our principles, our policies and ultimately our future.

President Donald Trump campaigned to Make America Great Again. But Trump‘s idea of greatness is the greatness of the barbarian — the surrender of nobility to power. His values, as revealed by his words and actions, include nothing we recognize as noble: no generosity, no bravery, no self-sacrificing patriotism, no justice or wise leadership. Nothing uplifting and inspiring. Just raw lust for power.

Trump is the only U.S. president who would call someone a Boy Scout and mean it as an insult. Consider the values Trump mocked when he called House Speaker Paul Ryan a Boy Scout: “A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent” — the Scout Law — values most Americans would honor.

Cynics will scoff: No one, not even scouts, lives according to the values of the Scout Law. The cynics will be right; as fallible humans we always fall short of our ideals. But values find their worth not in their realization, but in the effort made to realize them. An America that declared and worked toward the realization of scouting values (or a comparable set) would be an America we could proudly and truly call great.
— Dale Gerboth
Anchorage

Have something on your mind? Send to or click to submit via any web browser. Letters under 200 words have the best chance of being published. Writers should disclose any personal or professional connections with the subjects of their letters. Letters are edited for accuracy, clarity and length.