Much attention is paid to the state of our 70-year post World War II world order. But what of the deeper, longer 240-year old American Order - and it's fit into the times?

There is some feeling America and the West may be losing their footing. The nation state is under attack today. While America may be justified in its world role still, it is also less whole than in 1945. We know great nations or civilizations, though, don't rise or decline in a vacuum.

There are many reasons civilizations can falter. They consume too much, and deplete their resources. They print too much money, and go into debt. They use their military too much and weaken their homeland to pay for conflict far way. They raise taxes to stay strong, but hollow out people's livelihoods in doing so. They then subsidize the struggling parts of society, and reward those protecting them at the top.

Over time leading nations can watch their vision slip. As they do, they often grow corrupt. They ignore their history, and before long unobtrusively dishonor their beliefs. Their foundation of community and nationhood grows uncertain and finally erodes. With large size and little soul, one day not much may be left.

This is not inevitable. Events affect the course of change most - but so does national character. Character survives because systems cannot, and character alone improves them. For our country to be better and our world stronger, America's house must again become whole.

It can. The fortunate part of America's character is that it thrives, in both foundation and apex, beyond the normal assets of national power. The foundation of America rivets on integrity and conscience. It's apex and reach - growing out of conscience - comes from the force of citizen aspiration. So America, first and foremost, is an idea whose essence goes beyond the bookends of the nation-state. Statehood in America matters because its vision does.

In his Farewell Address on September 19, 1796, George Washington named five large principles that should guide the young new nation: 1) the permanency of union, 2) national independence, 3) moderation over spirit of party, 4) religion and virtue as "pillars of human happiness," and 5) fiscal rectitude. These are the ingredients by which a people could have "command of its own fortunes."

These - the ethics of union, purpose, character, money, morality - remain wise first foundations. They need relevant honoring again. At the other end of our long union, not facing into the past but the future, a perfect union was avoided so a steadily "more perfect" one could be formed. Because America is founded upon a widening and ever deepening concept of its roots, there need be no betrayal. The bookends - of conscience and possibility - create an undimmed ceiling. Our character is linked to the very rope of human progress.

The foundation and future of our Republic, then, not its present condition, govern us. The core of our civilization is woven into a web of consistency and moral power that cannot be rent. Parochial dives and speculative theory will never tear this garment asunder. It is connected beyond the gifts of empire. For a nation as generously conceived as ours, this means we need to step back from ourselves.

We may possess one of the finest Republics ever, yet too many have spent the past 40 years trying to drown it in disfavor. The Public Square believes we must be jealously careful. Why? Just as a thirsty plant drinks the gentle rain, we need as citizens to soak in the gentle rain once again of our Republic. For, what we think, we are.

Nations don't generally thrive on grand conceptions. Politics, even at their largest level, often stay local. But now and then they soar. America is less a static identity than a moving notion built on a new principle of statehood. This principle is larger than statehood, but not adrift from it.

Our greatest duty may be one of viewing our heritage anew. Proverbially, this means not loving the darkness more than the light - in short, shredding a magnificent inheritance, or failing as Lincoln spoke in 1861, "to save the good old ship of Union."

Union - Larger than Statehood But not Adrift