From KERA in Dallas, this is Think.

I'm John McKay, sitting in for Chris Boyd.

We will hear a luck this year about the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

The historic document clearly outlined our thoughts, our aspirations for creating

an ideal society of free men and women, aspirations with which we still struggle to make real

in every way. From a small group of states united in fending off vast empires, America has risen

to become the world's preeminent power. But how in the second

quarter of the 21st century do we continue to help maintain peace in the most dramatic period

in human history? Do we even know who we are as a nation, or our own DNA, so to speak? Michael O'Hanlon

has studied those questions for decades. He's a policy

analyst, an author, and Brookings Institution Federal, and Director of Research. He's just written

to dare mighty things U.S. Defense Strategy since the Revolution. He joins me this hour.

Michael, welcome to think. It's great to be with you. Thanks for having me on.

I want to start with that title. That is from a Theodore Roosevelt speech. It's called The Strenuous Life.

And he says, as it is with the individual, so it is with the nation. It is a base on truth to say that happy is the nation that has no history. Thrice happy is the nation that has glorious history. Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much,

because they live in the grave twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.

That inspired you to write that, that whole idea that he has at that point?

Yeah, thank you for reading it.

I guess he didn't really need any

speechwriter help, did he? He was pretty good with the pen. Yeah, pretty good use of the English

language. And, you know, I think most of us find, you know, Roosevelt and appealing and interesting

figure. And obviously he had a very adventurousome and, you know, successful life in many ways,

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