In the “Service Nation Presidential Candidates Forum” hosted by Columbia University on September 11, 2008, the US presidential candidates glorified service, sacrifice, and a cause greater than oneself.

Senator John McCain said that after 9-11, he would have called upon Americans to serve. He said, “What has been missing is a president in the White House that taps into that yearning (for service) in a serious way.” The senator extolled service: “Finding new ways to serve - that’s what these next few years should be all about.” “It’s not about the individual, it’s about the cause we serve.” “It makes us exceptional in the kind of citizenry we have and the kind of service and sacrifice that we are capable of.”

Had Senator Barack Obama been president at the time of 9-11, rather than tell the American people to shop, he would have done this, among others: “I would have asked very explicitly for young people to engage in community service and military service.” The senator also extolled service: “The next president is going to have to actively pursue these issues of service.” “… a president who is willing to inspire people to get involved and get outside of themselves.” “What it means to be an American (is) to serve and to sacrifice.”

The US presidential candidates spoke not only of service to the nation, but to the world.

Senator Barack Obama’s national service plan has a price tag of around $3.5 billion, while Senator John McCain would sign the bipartisan bill on national service tripling the size of AmeriCorps.

The Declaration of Independence does not include the words “serve”, “service”, or “sacrifice”. It mentions “Happiness” twice and “Rights” thrice. It does not speak of a cause greater than oneself, but of the “Right of the People”:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

The Gettysburg Address does not include the words “serve”, “service”, or “sacrifice” either:

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

President Abraham Lincoln also said this: "We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; while with others, the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men's labor. Here are two, not only different, but incompatible things, called by the same name - liberty. And it follows that each of the things is, by the respective parties, called by two different and incompatible names - liberty and tyranny." 

Founding Father Thomas Jefferson said: "Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual."

Americans who, like President Lincoln and President Jefferson, think of liberty as: “each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor”, find that the legacy of the Founding Fathers and the brave men President Lincoln honored in his Gettysburg Address, is not represented by any presidential candidate.

President Lincoln said that he had an oath registered in heaven, the most solemn one: to preserve, protect, and defend the government of the people, by the people, for the people -- to preserve, protect, and defend the nation conceived in Liberty -- liberty, which means: “each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor.”

On January 20th, 2009, the United States of America will have a president who will take the same solemn oath that President George Washington, President Thomas Jefferson, and President Abraham Lincoln took. But this president will preserve, protect, and defend “liberty” which means the opposite of “each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor”.

On January 20th, 2009, the President of the United States of America will extol service and sacrifice, not individual rights and happiness. He will glorify a cause greater than oneself, instead of “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”, Liberty, being the “unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others.”

The next President of the United States thinks sacrifice is noble. He speaks not only of service to the nation, but to the world. The next President of the US will do what he thinks is noble. Will he sacrifice his countrymen and his country for a cause greater than an American, greater than the Declaration of Independence? 

The person who serves and the one being served are both dependents, just like the sacrificer and the sacrifice-profiteer. The presidential candidates glorify dependence and sacrifice, and thus dishonor the Declaration of Independence.   

After 9-11, Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama would have called upon Americans to serve. The senators fault President George W. Bush for not tapping into the Americans’ “yearning for service”, and for asking them to shop.

After 9-11, President George W. Bush assured Americans that their government would protect them, that they could travel and go about their normal lives. He did not ask them to sacrifice nor do their government’s responsibility -- he urged Americans to honor what they are: brave and strong. He threw a ceremonial baseball pitch at the Yankee stadium -- he glorified what is mentioned twice in the Declaration of Independence: Happiness!

I thank President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and nameless courageous heroes, for successfully thwarting another 9-11 for seven years.

Fellow Americans, let us demand that the government of the people, by the people, for the people, honor George Washington, the Founding Fathers, Abraham Lincoln, and the principles enshrined in the Declaration of Independence -- that Individual Rights, that the pursuit of happiness and of one’s own personal interests, shall not perish from the earth!

Reason Reigns is a self-published, POD novel of three parts: Faith and Reason, Greed for the Unearned, and Achievement of Heaven on Earth. Its back cover contains the theme and plot summary, to wit:  

“Heaven on Earth can be achieved when reason reigns.”

Independent thinkers cannot be ruled, so die they must.

Inventor Tony Connor is tied to the stake. Hugo, a healer, faces death. By decree, Governor Rod Gullio Sr. and Rudi Yani imprison innovator Leo Thomas. Builder and publisher Ron Balian is hunted.

The most unexpected of saviors, young beau ideals, rise up.

The thinkers escape to a godforsaken island. Full of conviction that to rule a human being is abhorrent, they enshrine individual rights. They live by the code that a moral man does not rule, nor can he be ruled by men.

But the power-hungry pursue them fiercely. Chief Hunsec unleashes the full might of his empire upon the island. Head-Warlord Imman Kann and the Hunsec armada advance.

The small country, impregnable due to its technology, suffers an unthinkable betrayal. The Hunsec moles exult as the adult islanders lie fallen!

The green of young growth fend off the invaders. 

Ruled by reason, the proud, happy, productive heroes achieve heaven on Earth.

But the island is now a dark, backward hole. Mystery surrounds the fate of the heroes and their wondrous creations. The hunt is on. For the truth. For the heroes’ treasures.

Alisa Connor, Ari Hugo, Frank Thomas, and young Ron Balian endeavor to rise. But great is the wrath of the destroyers. Between tyrants who crave to rule and thinkers who cannot be ruled, once again, the battle is joined.

On the book’s front cover is a sculpture of a naked woman triumphantly raising a torch, arms stretched high above her head, body straight and proud, feet firmly atop a skull over a thick book. Showing man’s goodness and efficacy, the sculpture represents the values depicted in Reason Reigns. The woman’s exalted pose is a salute to man’s intellectual and creative power. The sculpture is entitled: The Power of Science over Death. The sculptor, Dr. Jose Rizal, a polymath and polyglot, was executed by tyrants at age 35.

Reason Reigns starts with an oath to uphold the Constitution enshrining the principle that the only purpose of law and of government is the protection of individual rights. The revelry that follows is a total departure from the nation’s tradition of honoring humility, sacrifice, and suffering. Seething with self-righteousness and envy, cabal members scheme to cut down the proud, happy, independent thinkers with one blow, and then seize the legendary heroes’ treasures.

Alisa Connor acts on her convictions at the risk of her life. But defeating evil is not the most difficult battle in Part 1.  Young Ron Balian, who thinks reason and faith can coexist, parallel to each other, in the same man, chooses a perfect life of probity over his own life, a child’s, and his beloved’s. To save his daughter, as well as Alisa and Ron, Dr. Ari Hugo must race against time in unraveling the secrets of the underground chambers, a mystery confounding searchers over the decades.    

I am the author of Reason Reigns.

My cousin bought ten copies and wrote this amazon.com review: “Excellently written. One of the best books I have read in years. The story is good and the underlying messages challenge the mind. An excellent book for all ages.”

Independent thinkers do not buy books based on reviews. Yet, I greatly appreciate my readers’ reviews. They give me pride and joy, not only in my own accomplishment, but in my readers’ intellect and integrity. 

Just like my cousin’s, the following  reviews from family members pleasure me:

“A novel of ideas. Sustained thrill from the first page until the last.” 

 “Inspiring. Admirable.” 

 “Ilyn Ross provokes her reader to think along with her heroes until the end. Extremely satisfying, brainy adventure. Reason Reigns beautifully demonstrates the power of the mind and the strength of reason.” 

“Wonderful. Exciting and absorbing. A potent force that impels the reader to finish the story in one reading. Reason Reigns portrays knowledge and the youth as vital to a culture. Most of all: love and reason reign.” 

“Reason Reigns features people of very strong character, particularly youngsters of fine mettle. It showcases the power of reason, especially in the fight between good and evil. Reason Reigns inspires the young to strive and achieve.” 

“Reason Reigns is a purposeful writing which inspires man to be cognizant of the triumph of reason as the vanguard of life, truth, justice, and freedom. It is a strong book which lays down simple as well as serious reasons debunking the tyranny of false values. By Ilyn Ross, Reason Reigns is written in heaven's name.”

The POD technology renders self-publishing inexpensive, but the book pricey. Distributors, other than the author, do not accept returns. Refusing to deal directly with self-published authors, retailers do not to carry POD books on their shelves.

With the retailers’ policy disempowering individual thinkers in deciding what to read, once again, technology comes to the rescue. Kudos to the World Wide Web! Reason Reigns is now available for purchase online in 15 countries (www.reasonreigns.com).

What books do most readers want? What recently published books are popular? The media very extensively reported on O.J. Simpson’s If I Did It, and Rita Cosby’s Blonde Ambition. To date, these are the New York Times Paperback Trade Fiction Best Sellers:

1. The Shack 

“The Shack wrestles with the timeless question, Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?”

2. Water for Elephants

Review from Publishers Weekly: “… Gruen skillfully humanizes the midgets, drunks, rubes and freaks who populate her book.”

4. The Friday Night Knitting Club

Review from Publishers Weekly: “… Jacobs surveys the knitters' histories, and the novel's pace crawls as the novel lurches between past and present, the latter largely occupied by munching on baked goods, sipping coffee and watching the knitters size each other up. Club members' troubles don't intersect so much as build on common themes of domestic woes and betrayal. …”

On May 19, 2008, Ms. Jacobs wrote in a blog: “Comfort Food – my new novel about a new cast of characters -- just arrived in stores and USA Today gave it a wonderful  review! The  novel picks up on my love of food television and is a lighthearted, behind-the-scenes look at a cooking show.”