William Schambra is a Hudson Senior Fellow and Director of the Bradley Center for Philanthropy and Civic Renewal. This essay is adapted from a Bradley Lecture delivered at the American Enterprise Institute on December 8, 2009.

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This photograph shows a Dassault Rafale aircraft parked on the tarmac of the French Air and Space Force Luxeuil-Saint-Sauveur Airbase in Saint-Sauveur, France, on March 18, 2025. (Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images)