Without the dominance that once dictated ethnocentrically,rnand what it meant to be an American, we are left with only tolerancernand pluralism to hold us together.”rnThis is not enough. We must be more than a diverse peoplernliving in the same place and sharing only a standard of living. Inrnshort, “diversity” is only an asset if it is secondary to unity. Thernemphasis must be on the unum not the pluribus. We should respectrndiversity, but we should celebrate unity.rnCommandment VI: A community cares about its future andrnbuilds for that future. Dietrich Bonhoeffer observed during hisrnfight against Hitler that “the ultimate question for a responsiblernman is. . . how the coming generation will live.” As explainedrnabove, my generation has not been good trustees for America.rnWe have not met the most basic of history’s tests: instead ofrnleaving our children a sustainable society, we have left them fiscalrntime bombs. We have not maintained strong, vigorous, andrnsustainable institutions.rnAs already detailed, we have hung an albatross of debtrnaround the necks of our children. Social Security, Medicare,rnmilitary pensions, federal civil service pensions, state and localrnpensions—all these and more are chain letters to the future.rnMedicare is one recession away from bankruptcy. The averagernperson retiring today will receive from Social Security three orrnfour times as much money as he paid into the system, while ourrnchildren will be lucky to even get their contributions back. Programsrnthat worked and were good social policy when we had arnsociety with many children and when people died in their 60’srnand 70’s does not make economic sense in a society which hasrnfewer children with a less productive economy and whose citizensrnlive well into their 80’s.rnThe elderly make up 13 percent of America, and they receivern61 percent of federal social spending, despite the fact that thernelderly are no longer disproportionately poor. It is politicalrnpower, not social justice, which sets priorities, and money desperatelyrnneeded to prepare the next generation is being transferredrnto the last generation whether they need it or not. Moneyrndesperately needed by poor children in St. Paul is transferredrninstead to wealthy retirees in St. Petersburg.rnThe status of a community at any given time is like starlight.rnWhat you see is, to a large degree, not what is but what was.rnJust as the star you see is light which left the star years before, sornalso community is the result of a previous generation saving, investing,rneducating, and building. Communities arc the resultrnof generations of caring.rnIn all cultures, in all nations, and in all religions, there is arnuniversal theme against profligacy, one urging justice for futurerngenerations. A community cares about posterity. An old MiddlernEast proverb observes, “The beginning of wisdom comesrnwhen a person plants a tree, the shade under which he knows hernwill never sit.” Alas, my generation has cut down many of thernshade trees we inherited.rnCommandment VII: A community needs a shared culture andrnshared language. John Gardner, former Secretary of the Departmentrnof Health and Human Services, has said:rnIf the community is lucky, and fewer and fewer are, it willrnhave a shared history and tradition. It will have its “story,”rnits legends and heroes, and will retell that story often.rnIt will have symbols of group identity—a name, a flag, arnlocation, songs, and stories. . . which it will use to heightenrnits members’ sense of belonging. . . . To maintain thernsense of belonging and the dedication and commitmentrnso essential to community life, members need inspiringrnreminders of shared goals and values.rnI am convinced that one of the “shared values” we must have isrna shared language. It is a blessing for an individual to be bilingualrn—it is a curse for a society to be bilingual.rnThe United States, in my opinion, is at a crossroads. It mustrnmove toward either greater integration or greater fragmentation.rnIt will either have to do a better job of assimilating its peoplesrnor witness increasing alienation and balkanization. Wernfound in the 1950’s that “separate was inherently unequal,” butrnit is also inherently divisive.rnCommandment VIII: A great community is one that has developedrna great culture. Why do certain people succeed in disproportionaternnumbers and others fail? The answer, I believe,rnis culture.rnDaniel Patrick Moynihan says that “the central conservativerntruth is that it is culture, not politics, that determines the successrnof a society. The central liberal truth is that politics canrnchange a culture and save it from itself.” The most economicallyrnsuccessful people in America today are in fact minoritiesrnwho have been discriminated against. Regarding family income,rnthe top earners in America are Japanese, Chinese, Jews,rnand Koreans. Why? I believe it is because they come from culturesrnwhich promote education, delayed gratification, ambition,rnand hard work, and other traits that are most often equatedrnwith success.rnCommandment IX: Ask not what your community can do forrnyou but what you can do for your community. I believe a qualityrncommunity is one which balances rights and privileges withrnduties and responsibilities. No society can live on rights andrnprivileges alone, as we have tried to do for too long. Our communityrnand our nation now need something in return.rnA free republic demands a far higher degree of virtue thanrnany earlier society. It demands a profound sense of personal responsibility,rna willingness to govern one’s own passions, a capacityrnof initiative and self-reliance, a taste for personal independence,rnand a sustained spirit of civic cooperation. SaulrnBellow said it well, that “America is as threatened by an excessrnof liberty as Russia was by the absence of liberty.” Those arernimportant words. An 18th-century philosopher put it anotherrnway: “Freedom is the luxury of self-discipline.” “America, thernBeautiful” mirrors this same thought: “Confirm thy soul in selfcontrolrnby liberty and law.”rnA breakdown in community because of a lack of cooperation,rnself-control, and common sense was recently witnessed inrnSouth Carolina, where the state’s Supreme Court upheld BeaufortrnCity’s ordinance banning excessive noise. The ordinancernwas challenged by street preachers who asserted a right to shoutrnas loudly as possible for a sustained period regardless of the effectsrnon pedestrians, the area’s businesses, and the communityrnwell-being. Despite three attempts by the city to compromise,rnthe street preachers refused to limit either their volume or thernhours they engaged in shouting. In response, the City Councilrnpassed an ordinance prohibiting such “speech.” Under the ordinance,rndozens of street preachers were arrested as the ministersrnpoured into town preaching for hours on end. One preacherrnwas measured at 89 decibels—the sound equivalent of arnNOVEMBER 1996/29rnrnrn