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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Gunners from the Armed Forces of Ukraine fire at Russian position with a 155 mm self-propelled howitzer 2C22 in the Kharkiv region on April 21, 2024. (Anatolii Stepanov/AFP via Getty Images)