Kent,

As many others have essentially expressed here, I think it a pretty meaningless cliche in this day and age. That is probably as it should be.   


I confess I get a little thrill when I hear President Obama say the words "....consistent with our values." I understand that to mean the values that are expressed in our Constitution. As a nation we did not invent those values, but our founding fathers were brash enough to think those values could be institutionalized on a grand scale, and they were.   However, the world is a different place now. There are more people and fewer resources.   This country does not present the same opportunities to individuals that it once did. Makes sense. Fewer resources means fewer opportunities, especially if "opportunity" is viewed as the opportunity to create wealth. The human race has reached, and perhaps exceeded, the available resources to sustain all of us.

It seems to me we are faced with a dilemma. We hold values that we deem to be of universal application. But the universal application of those values, given human nature and the limits of resources, could mean our demise.



LH, I think you do not grasp the USA system of governance, nor the national psyche of the USA as well as you suppose. The office of president in no way has the same power that a monarch has in a monarchial system.   Our democracy is very different from a parlimentary democracy. Not saying it is better or worse, only that it is different. The role and function of a President is not the same as that of a Prime Minister.