Reseña

I was born at a time when the United States gathered its economic and military power to fight for the American ideals of freedom that were being threatened by the Nazis in Germany and the Imperialists in Japan during World War II. As a boy I witnessed the civil rights struggles of the 1950s as the country sought to maintain the American ideals of equality that it professed, and as a young man I was part of the continuing struggle to maintain these rights. As I write this book, I am witnessing these American ideals being threatened not by foreign powers but by domestic malcontents opposed to the virtues that had defined us as individuals and as a nation –wisdom, justice, liberty, self-control and love. These, in fact, are the principles which form the cornerstone of our political system, the “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” values which gave life to the “America” we profess to love. These also are the virtues which today help us determine the “common good,” which I believe is not defined by any one group of people, one political ideology, or one religious dogma, but is shaped by the interests and the struggle of all Americans fighting to survive the harshness that life can bring. This book is about my search for these American values both as an immigrant and as a Mexican American, for it is in embracing these values that both the country and myself can be authenticated as “American.” And only when we adhere to these fundamental principles, we can truly say we are, “One nation, under one God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” Therefore, this book reclaims these values in a country which seems to have lost its way.