I'm not sure that hope isn't as valid a value, Red, and it encompasses many more - an expection of freedom, a belief that merit matters, that tyranny will be countered, that one can "get ahead." So, I think it should be added to the list. I want to talk in terms of aspiration primariy, and demonstration as it follows from this. As Professor Reel indicates:
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America is a balancing act. Sometimes we slip off the wire. No one said it would be easy. No one said it was simple. It's a work in progress, and it always will be. The danger to America is when we allow those who vilify basic American values to have the loudest voices.
He also says:
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This is the true American value: We are a nation of compromises. The Constitution is a document of concessions between competing interests. We weigh the right of the accused against the power of prosecutors; we weigh the power of judges against Congress and the president; we weigh the power of the people against the strength of the government.
I think what is most true is that the power of the government derives from the people, so we have a responsibility to keep that government in line.

A well reasoned argument is like a diamond: impervious to corruption and crystal clear - and infinitely rarer.

Here, as elsewhere, people are outraged at what feels like a rigged game -- an economy that won't respond, a democracy that won't listen, and a financial sector that holds all the cards. - Robert Reich