The breakdown of public order is followed by anarchy. And because human beings cannot tolerate anarchy, they will reach for chains in order to regain some measure of control over their circumstances. The cracks in the foundations of the American house of freedom, in other words, can lead to tyranny. What Columbine reminded us, in the most graphic and unmistakable way, is that there are no guarantees that the American house of freedom will remain that. But that is a question for every generation of Americans.
Democracy is an ongoing moral experiment in a people's capacity to govern themselves.
When the Founders staked their lives, fortunes and sacred honor on the American democratic experiment, they did not think that free government was inevitable, only that it was possible. Freedom and virtue were inseparable, in their minds, and that meant that the house of freedom must rest on the foundation of a life-affirming culture. As we stand on the threshold of a new century and a new millennium, we have just completed a decade of unparalleled peace and prosperity. These blessings may tempt us to think that the house of freedom is secure. Yet we know that cannot ever be the case, in any final sense.