The Promise

The Promise America Alliance is committed to the Preamble of the United States Constitution as the greatest promise America has ever been made by the Founding Fathers to the American people and the world. That promise is the national purpose of the United States, in which “We the People” are called “to form a more perfect Union.”

Our mission as a nongovernmental organization is to create. develop, and advance the Preamble as the basis of a new measure of the nation’s treasure: “We the People” ourselves. This measure is to be a working model of a free and democratic republic that connects the Preamble’s mission, strategy, and leadership to the ongoing issues of economic prosperity, public safety, and national governability affecting every citizen every day.

The Plan

First, to unify the Preamble’s compelling set of principles into an established set of performance standards for “We the People.”

Second, to analyze current measurement tools in light of these principles and standards to identify and develop newly focused tools for use in achieving the general well-being of all American citizens.

Third, to apply the information collected to impart the creative energy of a broad consensus for leadership to realize the intentions of the Founding Fathers’ in their vision of America’s future.

The Program

Because the Preamble is our national purpose and, therefore, the guide for our measurement model, we will frame it in sequence with the Preamble’s mission: We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union”—its strategy: “establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare”—plus its leadership: “and to secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

We will, then, link these strategic objectives to the broad fields most often on the minds of “the People” which we emphasize in sequence as economic prosperity, public safety, and national governability. Each of the measures will be tied together with others, analyzed, and reported for public debate and legislation.

THE AMERICAN SPIRIT: A DRAFT INAUGURAL ADDRESS

The American Spirit- As We the People join in walking the path to what is next.

We enter this time of transition as Joe Biden, our President-Elect puts together his team and the theme of going forward with a new administration. We are still experiencing the continued and growing scourge of Covid-19, the economic malaise that has been visited upon many of “we the people,” and the effects on the educations of our children, the continued struggle for equal justice and opportunity, the dangers posed by climate change, and a host of other concerns, not the least of which are processes of democracy itself.

And, yes, there is a light at the end of this current tunnel we are traversing with the news of vaccinations, hopes for economic recovery, solving the problems of the millions facing threats to having a home, paying bills, having healthcare, and restoring the cooperation and good faith of allies, protecting ourselves and our friends from the threats to life, limb, and country around the world. The new administration will certainly be severely challenged and will need the cooperation and good will of as many of us who can muster our focus on what we most care about and have in common as the legacy given to us by the founders of this great nation. In the end—as was ordained in the opening words of our Constitution which is still the law of the land, it is “We the People” who must work together to form a more perfect union for ourselves and our posterity.

We, at The Promise America Alliance, have put together a draft Inaugural Address which we have shared with the Biden staff as an offering of what we feel would be ideas and words that reflect what has been resonated and what has inspired some 80 million citizens to choose a Biden administration to work toward realizing the promises made and to live up to the Oath of Office that so many of the new members of that administration will take.

We are The Promise America Alliance ask for your feedback, suggestions and support in this common effort to reach out to help bring our Nation back together again to achieve there greatest good, for the greatest number of people, at the lowest cost, over the longest time.

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THE AMERICAN SPIRIT for President-elect Biden’s Inaugural,

Draft prepared by Richard D. Cheshire, PhD. Chairman of the Promise

America Alliance. dickcheshire58@gmail.com; cell 315-750-8082

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To every American: I wish you well in joining me for our mutual pursuit of happiness—the American spirit—as it was intended by the Founding Fathers in the Declaration of Independence in 1776. They understood happiness not as freedom from virtue but as freedom with virtue that produces well-being and joy with others. Nobody’s perfect, so we come together “to form a more perfect Union” as was specified in our Constitution of 1787.

The Founders were not thinking of happiness as individual pleasure alone. That would have negated the Golden Rule which applies to all peoples and, therefore, serves as an objective basis for ethics worldwide. In Scripture it perhaps is best remembered as “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

I believe we can agree this means that the goal of a new leadership ethic will be to bring us together to seek “the greatest possible good, for the largest number of people, over the longest period of time, at the lowest necessary cost” This is my pledge to you.

This leadership starts here in Washington. It cannot be delegated. It reaches out far and wide across this fair land of ours. I invite every American— whatever he or she may believe—to join our effort to determine how best we might follow that ethic together.

“The only way we can be free is together” are the words of Desmond Tutu, Anglican Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa. “Because we need one another,” he said, “our natural tendency is to be cooperative and helpful. If this were not true, we would have died out as a species long ago, consumed by our violence and hate.” We in America are not going to do that because we are better than that.

The founders were necessarily interested in staying out of war. The British and the French were in the midst of hostilities over America’s trade and territory. We were a humble new nation with scarce resources. So, the Founders saw the Preamble as a medium of peace, as did distinguished psychologist William James a century later. James was the leading advocate for America’s pragmatism that has since swept the world. From this, he proposed the “moral equivalent of war” as a form of national service which was in synch with the American spirit. By this, he imagined applying America’s resources for war to alternative measures for peace.

What we share, among all of us here and now, is the meaning of happiness as a public virtue. This follows the Golden Rule, in the free country America was meant to be. Our Founders introduced the Constitution with a Preamble that sets forth the first principles by which America would live—the Spirit of America.

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

As the Spirit of America, it transcends politics. It is what makes each one of us a human being –and all of us a global civilization. We are a world of creativity “endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” as Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence.

What do we stand for? FREEDOM for all people. From independence to interdependence. DEMOCRACY for all people. From representation to participation. JUSTICE for all people. EQUALITY of treatment from neighborhood to nation in all situations for everyone.

What do we want to become? At the top of the Preamble’s list is “a more perfect Union”– as our time and circumstance changes. We want to be, as the Founders did, an example to all nations as a beacon of light for a better world. The leaders we search for to help us solve the pressing problems we face are those who would be transformative. They would understand how to rise above transactional deals to a higher level of shared values for all concerned. This

would lead to a triple win situation– one that works for both sides at the negotiating table plus all others affected who were not at that table.

Our leaders would facilitate the new leadership ethic that, again, pursues the greatest possible good, for the largest number of people, over the longest period of time, at the lowest necessary cost. By following such an approach, we would open up the potential for a better way of reaching agreements that would successfully elevate an ongoing rise of peace and good will toward one another.

By embracing the moral imperatives of such an ethic, we highlight the rule of law as the orderly pattern of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” as was stated in the declaration of America’s separation from the British. The Founding Fathers knew that something more would be needed than the Articles of Confederation which launched the thirteen states as a nation and turned out to be an unenforceable solution to the challenges of finance, trade, prosperity and freedom. It was 1787, when James Madison and George Washington, together with Ben Franklin and Alexander Hamilton and a strong coterie of leaders from the thirteen states, fifty-five in all, met in Philadelphia to strengthen the failing Confederation in the cause of freedom.

And with this election of 2020, it is clear that “We the People” wanted to hear that there is something clear and beneficial for all of us to fight for. For a new President of the United States, it begins with the Constitution. We are always working to understand it as it was written and interpreted now in these greatly different times. The world of 1787, we must remember, was a world of autocrats ruling their subjects. We were to be a free country where the people ruled themselves. How would we do that? Slowly and imperfectly. But here we are.

George Washington’s “Great Experiment” was, in his words, “the establishment of our new Government [that] seemed to be the last great experiment for promoting human happiness.” America’s creativity has been at the center of American life ever since. Even President Putin of Russia cited that point when he was asked what he most admired about America. “Creativity,” he said, “when it comes to your tackling problems. Their openness and open-mindedness—because it allows them to unleash the inner potential of their people. And thanks to that, America has attained such amazing results in developing their country.”

Our pursuit of Happiness, such as it has become, and the creativity that persists in our American culture at its best, has been very powerful over many years. because a healthy metabolism of the body politic rests upon genuine strength at home and abroad. When the American system is working creatively, opportunities open up, investors step in, an uptick in capital flow arises, tax revenues increase, and infrastructure is modernized. As prosperity spreads, crime and incarceration level off, the degree of education rises, healthcare improves, capabilities increase, creativity and innovation grow, community metabolism strengthens, and hopefulness and confidence become more evident.

Our core problem today is that too many Americans do not have access to safety, opportunity, and dreams of a better life to come. “In God we trust” is more than the official motto of the United States. It must be the guidance of our faith in the future, expressed in any way that works for each and every American.

Over the Supreme Court’s entrance is the grand theme it works to follow: EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW. We depend upon all agencies and jurisdictions of our government to carry on their work accordingly, from counting our votes to applying the law, starting with the Constitution.

In my assuming the office of President, I have pledged that “I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of the President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” All members of the legislative branch, all officers of the executive branch, and all judges of the judicial branch take a

similar oath by which they vow to honor during their time in office. I will constantly be mindful of that during the time I serve.

Thank you. And may God bless America.

Joseph R. Biden, Jr. President of the United States of America

RECENT INTERVIEW

Radio interview with iUniverse for distribution.

RECENT BOOK

Basic premise of First and Foremost, the latest in a series of books by Dr. Richard D. Cheshire, Chairman of The Promise America Alliance, edited by Arthur Rashap, President of that organization:

“To bring change or reap the whirlwind” is the warning of David Brooks who goes on to say: “A community is more than the sum of its parts. It is a shared sensibility and a pattern of response.” Like a “flock of geese or a school of fish” as well as a herd of buffalo or an army of ants or a crowd of sports fans.

The question is how do we unite a divided people to reach a mutual goal that can only be achieved together ?

The answer is in the creativity that acknowledges the inherent mutuality of leaders and followers—a shared vision of the future that requires a concerted strategy supported by connecting resources.

SERIES OF VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE

Ian Sole Video for Promise America Alliance-April 19, 2020

Hi, my name is Ian Sole, and thanks for joining me today. I’m a member of an organization called The Promise America Alliance, or PAA for short, a non-profit organization. I hope what I have to say is of interest, thought provoking, and above all, I can persuade you to help with our work.

But first, I trust you and your families are well, and staying safe from the pandemic sweeping our country and around the world. Despite the horrific toll this crisis has, and continues to wreak in terms of unnecessary deaths and economic pain, we believe, it offers the U.S. and the world a unique opportunity to affect positive and much needed change. This is the basis for our initiative. And this is the first sharing of what I hope will be many, by myself and others. And perhaps you.