want it for others, and we go the extra mile — we go the extra mile for other people, because that is who we are, we Americans. Younger Americans need to under- stand the power of having and work- ing for a dream. The way we can best teach them how to do that is to model it [ . . . ] model it for them. If they see
America’s promise and their own promise and assure quality education in every zip code. Success, or becoming your best self, is about listening to your “better angels,” believing and understanding that the lie of the left is that success is based on skin color or some other outside factor. Success is not from
Senator Scott We have to start off with reality. Our nation, our shared values, and our people are strong — but our leader- ship is weak. The contrast is sharp. This is not the first time in our history, but it is the clearest contrast in my lifetime. We have two competing philosophies afoot, representing a clear contrast — about the future.
If [younger Americans] see belief in America and the American Dream modeled before their eyes, then all different kinds of people, even those who had no silver spoon, who started like me, with a plastic spoon, will see that their dreams can be realized, and we have so much to be grateful for.
the outside in, but from the inside out. The objective truth of life is that success comes from inside. If we can teach this, we will redefine the entire debate. AMAC Senator, your words resonate, and I hope they are heard far and wide. We are up against tough challenges. How do we get back to having safe streets, a fully protected border, and a focus on national security — how do we secure America? Senator Scott Securing America requires primacy of that mission and having a vision for the future. Proverbs makes a time- less point: “where there is no vision, the people vanish.” If we believe that security does not matter, if we cast off the restraints that have kept us one nation, if we forsake our community, borders, and role in the world — that
belief in America and the American Dream modeled before their eyes, then all different kinds of people, even those who had no silver spoon, who started like me, with a plastic spoon, will see that their dreams can be realized, and we have so much to be grateful for. Conditions do not define us, and they never have. Our imagination, our willingness to dream and work for those dreams, is what defines us — that is the beauty of the American Dream. AMAC Thank you, Senator. That message is inspiring. Let me pivot and ask you a related question. As we watch our nation divided by forces inside and outside, how do we restore the nation’s traditional values, like hard work, patriotism, respect for time- less principles, history, biology, truth? How do we address and resolve the issues dividing America?
One sees America as evil, racist, and declining. The other is more objec- tive. The common-sense American — whether they see themselves as left or right — still believes that hard work, character, grit, and talent produce results for all of us, for those who will believe in the future and those values. To get past this moment, for those values to prevail, we need to teach our kids how to think, not what to think — because they will get there if we teach them how to think. This is a delimitation that is being lost. The problem is that we have the radical part of the country who seem to think grievance, victimhood, and despair are the future — versus those of us who believe in individual respon- sibility, hard work, and the American Dream. To win the future, we have to understand that we are the freest, fairest land in the world. We have to educate young Americans to see
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18 • AMAC Magazine
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