The Endangered Virtues essay series, written by members of the Hoover Institution’s Boyd and Jill Smith Task Force on Virtues of a Free Society, rests on the conviction that the American constitutional tradition is a source of wisdom about the mutual dependence of liberty and virtue and the tension therein. Such virtues are discussed in this set of essays.
The Virtues of a Free Society Task Force examines the evolution of America’s core values, how they are threatened, and what can be done to preserve them.
The task force’s aims are to identify the enduring virtues and values on which liberty depends; chart the changes in how Americans have practiced virtues and values over the course of our nation’s history; assess the ability of contemporary associations and institutions—particularly schools, family, and religion—to sustain the necessary virtues; and discuss how society might nurture the virtues and values on which its liberty depends.
Peter Berkowitz and David Brady served as cochairs of the Task Force on the Virtues of a Free Society.
Significant gifts for the support of this task force are acknowledged from
