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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A woman walks past a television screen showing a news broadcast of a North Korean military parade showcasing a record number of nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missiles in Seoul on February 9, 2023. (Jung Yeon-je/AFP via Getty Images)