The Freedom Principles: America's Promise at a Crossroads

(Paperback)

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"A rousing aspirational assessment of American values." -Kirkus Reviews

America can rediscover hope and optimism and revitalize its promise of freedom and democracy. This promise is powerful and inspirational freedom unleashes our human potential by incentivizing us to maximize our spiritual, emotional, intellectual, and physical potential, and democracy is the only viable means for free people to collectively give their consent to be governed. But nearly 250 years into America's audacious experiment, its promise of freedom and democracy is at a crossroads, stalemated by the fear, anger, and division that has swamped our public life.

In this memoir, Thomas France acknowledges his role in undermining America's promise of freedom and democracy, asserting that "Americans like me who have stood by and watched passively as our democratic institutions wither and crumble" are the most dangerous threat to that promise. He seeks to atone for his complicity by suggesting a path for reinvigorating America's promise with a renewed appreciation of and commitment to certain fundamental principles that empower our freedom: Fairness, Responsibility, Engagement, Enterprise, Discipline, Opportunity, and Morality. France explores the impact that each of these principles has had on his life and illustrates how they can inform and guide our individual lives and support our collective relationships by providing a platform of common understanding and values that can help us better navigate our differences and disagreements. Embracing these principles gives us the strength to resist fear, anger, and hate; it allows us to solve problems and find success; it enables freedom to be a way of life, not just a slogan.

With a renewed personal commitment to these freedom principles, we can overcome our fears, begin to heal some of our divisions, become more comfortable trusting ourselves and our fellow citizens, and work more purposefully and effectively in pursuit of our individual happiness. We can rediscover our hope and optimism and write a new chapter of the American story that recognizes freedom and democracy as our shared American value.

Reviews

"A rousing aspirational assessment of American values." - Kirkus Reviews

"Interweaving many scenes from his own life (including moving memories of losing first his mother, then his father) with broader observations about the nature of the United States, France breaks down the country's promise of freedom into a handful of "freedom principles," including engagement, opportunity, responsibility, fairness, and morality. However, he also consistently warns readers about what he sees as signs of serious deterioration in American political systems--sounding a tone of warning that tempers the sunniness of much of the book, and when he asserts that "One of the parties has been infected" with an "authoritarian spirit...and the other party has become so weakened in much of the country by its ideological purity that it is incapable of building a strong national coalition in support of freedom and democracy." Some readers may feel that this has created a situation in which many Americans care little about "freedom principles." However, the author addresses this by condemning passivity and apathy, effectively expressing a sense of faith in American people as individuals; this gives the book a feeling of infectious optimism that makes the book a bracing read." - Kirkus Reviews

Author Bio

Thomas France is a lawyer, author, husband, and father of three who was born and raised in Corvallis, Oregon. He graduated from Oregon State University and Washington and Lee University Law School. Tom is a corporate attorney and has represented Fortune 500 corporations, small businesses, and individual entrepreneurs in a variety of business transactions for 28 years. He lives in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., with his family. Tom wrote "The Freedom Principles: America's Promise at a Crossroads" because America has kept its promise to him. Although he is an unremarkable man in most respects, his journey has been remarkable. He is a corporate lawyer, living an upper middle-class life in the suburbs of Washington, DC, yet he is just one generation removed from the poverty and isolation of the Ozark Mountains and the hardscrabble life of rural, small-town Iowa. His American dream has been made possible by the unconditional love and support of family, certain fundamental values and principles that have shaped and guided his life, and the power and inspiration of America's promise of freedom and democracy.