Restoring the American Dream Starts with Character
By Matt Maasdam
I’ve been thinking about a line from Pulp Fiction where the Wolf says, “Just because you are a character doesn’t mean you have character.”
Two hundred and fifty years into the American experiment, we’ve had leaders of both kinds. We’ve had leaders of character who put the country before their own interests. They stuck to their principles under pressure, and were willing to sacrifice for something bigger than themselves. We’ve also seen plenty of characters who grab attention, dominate headlines, and make politics about themselves. Today, that’s who I see rising to the top of our politics, from the White House on down, in both parties. America is paying the price.
There’s a quote from Roosevelt hanging on the wall in my house: “Character, in the long run, is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike.”
Roosevelt understood that character isn’t just about how one person behaves. The standards we, as citizens, set for our leaders eventually become the standards we live with as a country. What we tolerate and reward, we get. If we reward service, sacrifice, honesty, and integrity, we’ll get more of those traits. If we tolerate self-interest, greed, and spectacle, we’ll get more of that, too.
An America with character is an America that lives up to its values of freedom and fairness.
But we’re not living up to that today. Right now, a small group of super wealthy, well-connected people play by a different set of rules. They get special treatment, tax breaks, inside deals, and a government that always seems ready to answer their phone calls.
Meanwhile, an autoworker on the line at Lansing Delta Township works overtime but wonders why their extra paycheck disappears quicker at the grocery store. A teacher in Mason sees health insurance cost more every year while classroom budgets get tighter. Families who do everything right still feel like they are one medical emergency from losing everything.
That happens when character gives way to self-interest, and the people at the top stop believing the American Dream belongs to everyone. It erodes trust and drives a wedge in our community.
When I think about character, one element missing from today’s politics is virtue, or moral excellence. I was in Philadelphia with my family for a hockey tournament a few months ago. We went to Independence Hall and ‘Virtue’ was one of the three words on the wall. It’s not about being perfect. It’s about sticking to the truth even when it’s hard, keeping your word, putting others before yourself, and doing what’s right, even when it costs you something.
We lived by character in the SEAL Teams, and I saw those same values while serving as President Obama’s Military Aide, carrying the nuclear codes. Character wasn’t measured by how tough you looked. It was measured by how well you exemplified the values of teamwork, judgment, passion, integrity, and courage — by whether you put the Team first and the mission ahead of yourself. I’d like to see that same standard applied to our politics.
An America with character lives up to our promise of freedom and equality by making sure everyone has a strong foundation: a country where every kid gets a great education, and if you work hard, you can eventually buy a house, raise a family, have good, affordable healthcare, and have enough left over that you can put money away for retirement.
From there, the sky should be the limit. America is the most innovative country in the world. This is the place where someone with a great idea can work hard, start a business, invent, build wealth, and hopefully give back. That’s the American Dream – it’s not a promise that everyone ends up in the same place, but a promise that everyone has a fair and just chance of getting there.
Our founders didn’t leave us a perfect union; they left us the challenge of a ‘more perfect union’. A set of ideals that every generation has had to fight for to inch us a little closer to perfection – by preserving the Union, expanding the right to vote, building the middle class, advancing civil rights.
Now, as we celebrate America’s 250th birthday, it’s our turn. For the next few years, I challenge all of us to spend less time focused on characters and more time rewarding character as we seek our next leaders. The American Dream is a moral promise. The leaders we elect need to restore and extend that vow to every American, so we can continue to build our next 250 years toward a virtuous tomorrow.
