John W. Rosa
Lieutenant General, USAF (Retired)
President and Class of 1973
The Citadel
America is in the midst of a great debate over values and principles—as it always has been and, by our foundation, always will be. At my institution, The Citadel, this debate sets the stage for knowledgeable instruction, which in turn allows our Corps of Cadets to consider their positions and participate in the discussion.
One might assume that because we are the Military College of South Carolina, we are regimented in terms of thought, but nothing could be further from the truth. The Citadel is a bastion of free thinking and diversity of opinion with a mission to educate and develop principled leaders for all walks of life.
At The Citadel, we promote true academic freedom: the ability to think and speak freely on campus in order to help our young people master the skills necessary to become leaders who embody our core values of honor, duty, and respect. Since 1842, the members of our Long Gray Line have included great leaders in the military, boardrooms, and public institutions. Therefore, we take our responsibility to develop men and women of strong character very seriously. We have an obligation to share with them the teachings of great thinkers from all points of view. This prepares them to act morally and ethically whether defending the nation’s freedoms or protecting the trust of shareholders and citizens.
In that spirit, I am pleased that Mallory Factor, the Governor John C. West Professor of International Politics and American Government at The Citadel, put together a course on the conservative intellectual tradition in America. The guest lectures from that course evolved into the essays in this book, and as you will see, they extend beyond partisan conservative matters. Moreover, while the authors may consider themselves conservatives, their philosophies vary widely.
The timeless debates of our society are discussed in these essays: the questions of liberty vs. standards, equality vs. opportunity, fairness vs. freedom, and interventionism vs. isolationism. The authors seek not to resolve these debates, but to illuminate them and draw attention to the fact that the greatness of America lies in its diversity of opinion and its attempt to seek the purest form of liberty as envisioned by the Founders and by the millions who have fought to preserve it.