America plays a central role in the social order that arose and carries forward from the twentieth and into the twenty-first century. We made the bed we lie in for better or worse. And it is important to know where we came from and why what we are matters – not only to us but to the world. As a nation we have pulled away from the world we have created. We believe that we no longer need provide leadership...

Every year we experience a flu season. But what if all our research into finding a means of avoiding that discomfort reveals how we can ‘customize’ a virus? Chemical and biologic weapons have been used since the First World War. More recently they were used in the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s. They fall into the category of weapons of mass destruction for good reason... ...

Within every society there are opposing forces, those who wish to keep things as they are, whether to protect vested interests, or to keep body and soul together in a slow growing economy, because it is the only way you know how. Opposing them are those who wish to change the world, to make things better for everyone. These two opposing positions tend to also represent those who are optimistic about what we as a nation can do...