America today faces unique threats to her continued internal stability and prosperity because of a failure to defend and pass on a civic spirit based on patriotism, education, obligation, and opportunity. Confidence in the institutions that support democracy and the rule of law has eroded among elites and institutions which once buttressed a common civil society. Nowhere is this failure starker than in the abandonment of assimilation programs for newly arrived immigrants and the weakening and politicization of civics education among secondary and college students. By shortchanging these groups upon whom the future of our nation rests, we dilute our identity as a people bound not by race or ethnicity but by a common love of liberty. We risk our future as a nation of free men and women who, within a pluralistic society, exercise our individual pursuits within the parameters of a common culture and state.

Simultaneously, misinformation about America, her people, and her policies has poisoned the minds of millions abroad. Propagandists spew out hate-filled tracts and pseudo-journalism with little opposition from local elites or American institutions. The confluence of ignorance, intolerance, and cynicism at home with violence, hatred, and war abroad is not coincidental. As faith in the goodness of America’s culture and people has been eroded through radical scholarship and self-doubt, our image abroad has suffered. In place of the image of America as a beacon of freedom and hope, radical nationalists and Islamists have portrayed America as an imperial power bent on selfish domination of the world’s peoples and resources. Drawing on the cultural relativism and intellectual nihilism of Western academics, elites in developing nations too often support the status quo of dictatorships and crony oligarchies rather than the aspirations of their people.

Democracy Project’s mission is to strengthen the institutions and conventions that support liberty and democratic rule at home and abroad. We believe that people worldwide possess the dignity and desire to live in freedom; we affirm the worth of each individual regardless of race, creed, ethnicity, or nationality. Because history teaches that liberty is best attained and preserved when government respects the right of citizens to live under the rule of law, elect their leaders, speak their minds, worship as they please, and own private property, we support efforts to strengthen and establish market-based democracies around the globe.

We are a grassroots institution that reaches out to interested parties around the world to organize networks to support pro-democracy efforts. To accomplish this task, we seek volunteers to carry the torch for freedom in their communities and among their peers. Sympathetic individuals, community leaders, government officials, educators, clergy, and others who share our commitment to freedom are invited to contact us about organizing at the local level.