The Freedom Principles America's Promise at a Crossroads

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

America needs to 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.

This book suggests a path for overcoming our stalemate with a renewed appreciation of and commitment to certain fundamental principles that empower our freedom and bolster our democracy. Thomas France explores the impact each of these principles has had on his life and illustrates how they can inform and guide our individual lives and help manage and support our collective relationships. These principles provide a platform of common understanding and values that can help us better navigate our differences and disagreements and make them more a source of strength than a seed of division. Embracing these fundamental 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.

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 partner in a prominent national law firm 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.