This article originally appeared in The Detroit News February 24, 2026.

Two-hundred and fifty years ago, America’s founders pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor to launch this great national experiment. They laid the foundation, but the country’s future depends on us.

People are worried about America’s future. Have you noticed that? There’s a lot of talk about the end of democracy. Every election is described in apocalyptic terms. Each new wave of political leaders exacts revenge on political opponents. Norm-breaking is the new normal. Meanwhile, the two major political parties are both in flux — socialism is on the rise in the Democratic Party and some Republicans are flirting with authoritarianism and populism.

Some disagreements run deeper than policy and political differences. In his book “A Conflict of Visions,” economist Thomas Sowell wrote that most policy clashes flow from sharply different views about the nature of humanity. Nations that endure do so because they find key, fundamental values to hold in common.

America has flourished for 250 years because our founders recognized a few timeless principles and then designed a government around them. Ideas like the dignity of the individual or the importance of representative government are embedded in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.

We have not always lived out our values as a people, but major national milestones moved us closer to them. The Bill of Rights. The Emancipation Proclamation. Women’s suffrage. The civil rights movement. In those moments, America did not radically change herself as much as she further embraced her founding principles.

So, what are those values?

In 2023, policy thinkers John Hood and Avik Roy — both writing from conservative and constitutionalist perspectives — restated America’s timeless principles. They were concerned about shifts in the American conservative movement, so they drafted a statement of principles they call “Freedom Conservatism.” (Despite the label, liberals, libertarians and conservatives can all find something to like.)

Hood and Roy are on to something. It is useful to restate the foundational ideas that enabled America to be the shining city on a hill for 250 years. Repetition is important. Ronald Reagan warned that we must not take America for granted: “Freedom is a fragile thing and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction.”

The Freedom Conservatism Statement of Principles includes these ideas:

• Liberty is the right to be free from arbitrary force;

• The U.S. Constitution was designed to constrain centralized power;

• The free enterprise system is the best tool to achieve widespread prosperity;

• The pursuit of happiness is enabled by strong families and strong communities;

• Communities benefit from a civil society of institutions that promote virtue and care for the needy;

• Skyrocketing federal debt is an existential threat to the prosperity and security of Americans;

• Unelected regulators must respect constitutional and statutory limits to their power;

• America is governed by the rule of law, and the benefits of the law are available to all people, regardless of race or creed;

• The right to say and believe what one chooses is essential to a free society.

The statement also celebrates fiscal restraint, legal immigration, property rights and tolerance. These ideas aren’t new; America was founded on these values.

Margaret Thatcher once explained American exceptionalism: “No other nation has been built upon an idea — the idea of liberty,” she said.

Hundreds of people, myself included, have signed the Freedom Conservatism statement. I typically describe my policy views as “free market,” but these principles transcend political labels. They are American principles.

Permission to reprint this blog post in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author (or authors) and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy are properly cited.