You Should Become a Virtuous Citizen

A self-help program to become the American you ought to be.

In this uncertain time, a lot of Americans seek guidance. Who ought they be?

There are a lot of workout programs for the soul, each offering paths to reorient your life and guide you through life’s storm. You could follow the stoics. You could embrace masculinity. You could copy the techniques of the disciplined, focused, and efficient. Maybe take a spiritual journey into the jungle, drink ayahuasca, and speak to spirits. You could clean your room so, one day, you’re capable of slaying dragons.

These and similar paths to improvement and redemption advance many valuable ideas, but I’ve come to think none of them truly targets what ails us. If you want to pursue a more meaningful and effective life of purpose and adventure, I propose another path.

Re-embrace the American virtues and become a virtuous citizen.

WHAT IS VIRTUE?

When I say you should be virtuous, I’m not talking about kindness, charity, or sexual morality. I’m talking about character—obligations and burdens you’ve chosen to lift up, and the civic and social identity you’ve chosen to embrace.

Historians marvel at how Rome, an irrelevant city state, conquered the known world and then built an empire that lasted centuries and culture that still flourishes today. Rome had unique institutions, efficient military tactics, and a few great leaders who did great deeds, but the true reason Rome glittered is because a Roman was a unique sort of person. Roman virtus expected Romans to actively take on obligations and demonstrate certain virtues in how they conducted life.

A Roman was expected to assume the burdens of civic life and military service, and perform those duties with excellence and integrity. Rome expected its citizens to demonstrate judgment, and to conduct themselves with seriousness and self-control—Roman gravitas. Most of all, Rome expected citizens to always act in the interest of Rome, even when that meant personal sacrifice. A Roman who failed these expectations—who shirked public service, failed to show bravery in battle, conducted themselves with fickleness or selfishness, and or otherwise acted with dishonor—would lose all respect and authority. This Roman expectation that citizens meet these heavy obligations to family, and burdens of public duty, was the true foundation of Roman greatness.

The gradual erosion of these virtues is also why Rome fell. As writers like Gibbon explained in his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, after centuries of decline and change, the Roman virtues gradually declined and were replaced. New generations of Romans no longer thought or acted like the Romans of antiquity, and in result their glorious Empire built around these Roman virtues crumbled.

America’s Founders, students of Roman history, passionately believed their republic also required virtuous citizens to thrive. They modeled their Constitution on the ideas of Montesquieu, whose Spirit of the Laws insisted a republic couldn’t exist without virtuous citizens. A monarchy can get by with a few wise aristocrats, but in a republic the people are the government. No piece of paper—even a Constitution—can stand in the way of what the people want. Although widely forgotten, America’s Founders littered their writings with grave warnings about the necessity of public virtue in America’s new citizens.

“Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks, no form of government can render us secure. To suppose liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea.”

- James Madison

“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom.”

- Ben Franklin

“Morality and virtue are the foundation of our republic and necessary for a society to be free.”

- John Adams

“The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue, and if this cannot be preserved, the foundation is laid for a tyranny.”

- Thomas Jefferson

This virtue they refer to, again, isn’t personal morality. It’s public character. A republic is just the sum of the choices and actions of its people. Constitutions, agencies, institutions, and laws, can’t force people to be better than they are. The people must vote for virtuous officials. They must choose virtuous policies. They must conduct their own affairs virtuously. A republic will only be as successful as its citizens. If the people indulge in selfishness, complacency, or corruption, their republic will eventually crumble, just like Rome’s.

As an American, you inherited a gift, but this gift comes with a burden. You must protect and sustain that gift so you can gift it to your children when you pass on. This means, as an American, you have an obligation to live your life with virtue. A virtuous life will also make you happier. It will forge you into a better, stronger, and more effective person. It will provide you with purpose. It will earn the admiration of friends and neighbors, and make you into someone you’re proud to be. It will create a life worth living.

WHAT ARE THE AMERICAN VIRTUES?

What virtues exactly should you live by? We’re no longer in classical antiquity, and America isn’t ancient Rome. To play your part in the story of America, you should strive to embody the American virtues.

What are the virtues of an American? What do all the figures of history we revere, and the archetypes we consider fundamentally American, have in common?

• Love of Democracy

• Industriousness

• Independence

• Curiosity

• Risk Taking

• Public Spirit

• Guardian Mentality

Love of Democracy is a commitment to social equality. Americans are a free people who believe in equal opportunity and level field. The poorest working person in America is due the same dignity, respect, and opportunity as the grandest billionaire. There’s nothing an American hates more than hearing “don’t you know who I am?” If a boss, billionaire, or figure of authority treats them like a lesser creature, an American tells them to kiss off.

Industriousness is working hard to accomplish real things. Americans respect work, but only work that creates something of value. Americans build bridges, create companies, make movies, and go to the gym to get fit. They admire those who get rich creating things of value, but give no respect to those who acquire wealth from grifting, corruption, nepotism, or shuffling abstractions around on paper. This is why Americans hate bankers and nepo babies, but love entrepreneurs.

Independence is thinking for yourself. Americans—no matter where they are in any hierarchy—decide what to think, and then stick to their guns no matter the pressure. Some nations honor obedience. Americans think the obedient are pathetic. Call us rebels, unruly, boisterous, or hard to manage. To an American, authority must be earned.

Curiosity is creating, experimenting, tinkering, and innovating. Americans create new music and new art forms. They make discoveries and new products. They love technology, innovation, and ideas. They don’t want to memorize an official book, but to figure out for themselves how things work and what’s actually true—so they can build on and improve things.

Risk Taking is pushing limits to see what happens. Americans are explorers and pioneers. They’re eager to bump up against limits to see if they can exceed them. They don’t mind being loud, offending, or breaking rules, polite customs, and orthodoxy. They prefer to break boundaries and seek adventures.

Public Spirit is patriotism and bringing what you’ve got into the arena. Americans love America. We love its democracy, values, and culture—football games, barbecues, big trucks, movies with explosions, hamburgers, eclectic music, our military, loud political campaigns, and the rest. Americans also respect those who jump into the arena to contribute. They honor those who step up and participate, supporting family, helping friends, supporting their community, and defending their country.

Guardians stand up for others. America is a warrior culture, but not a culture of conquerors. Americans are comfortable with conflict and violence, but despise those who bully, throw around their power, abuse their authority for selfish purposes, or seek to dominate. Force is for protecting others and standing up for what is right.

When combined, these virtues are the heart of every person and archetype that Americans revere. Wild West gunslingers like Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp. Risk-taking entrepreneurs. Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis, Janis Joplin, Dolly Parton, and Eminem. Outlaw antiheros who fight corrupt local bosses. George Bailey. George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and both Roosevelts. Prospectors chasing a gold rush. Nikola Tesla. Bold explorers like Admiral Byrd and Amelia Earhart. Audie Murphy and Desmond Doss. Batman, Superman, Iron Man, and Spiderman. Mark Twain, Ernest Hemmingway, Flannery O’Connor, and Hunter S. Thompson. Jane Addams and Martin Luther King. Die Hard’s John McClane.

This is what a virtuous American is. These virtues forged America’s past successes. They’re the virtues Americans respect. They’re the core of who every Americans hopes to be, and embodying them will make you respect yourself.

I’m worried about how little modern America still encourages these American virtues. It seems to have little use for cowboys, outlaws, innovators, and pioneers. In fact, an awful lot of our ruling class are pretty poor Americans. Many political ideas in circulation are also, frankly, unamerican. They seek to twist Americans into a people they are not. They seek to turn America into something it is not. They want to abandon the virtues that got us here, imagining it will create a better future. In reality, like the Romans, if we stop acting like Americans, this republic built around the American virtues will no longer function, and collapse.

This is the self-help program I believe in. We should bring back American virtues, synchronizing our heartbeats with the heartbeat of America. If you want meaning and purpose in your life, you have a duty and obligation to become a virtuous American.

What do you think of the American virtues? Join the conversation in the comments.