The men who started this great experiment called the United States of America were men of ideals and ideas. There genius was not to create something from scratch, but to combine ideas that had peroclated throughout history. Seeds planted in the past flowered under their hands. One of the best books to read about the source of these ideas is Russell Kirk’s Roots of American Order, where the history of liberty is laid out in what I call the “tale of 5 cities”. The tale travels through ancient Jerusalem, Athens, and Rome, revisits Jerusalem of the first century, heads to the London of the middle ages, and then on to Philadelphia in the 18th century. I hope this journey, not just through this work but also other works that illuminate the ideas presented, will be interesting and enlightening.