This new century will be an age of untold possibilities for us. Many nations now share our love of liberty and aspire to the ordered progress of democracy. We are obliged to seize this moment to help build a safer, freer and more prosperous world.

We are strong, confident people. We know that our ideals, courage, and ingenuity ensure our success. Isolationism and protectionism are fool's errands. We shouldn't build walls to the global success of our interests and values. Walls are for cowards. No nation complacent in its greatness will long sustain it. We are an unfinished nation. And we are not a people of half-measures. We who have found shelter beneath the great oak must care for it with as much devotion as had the patriots who preceded us.

This is an extraordinary time to be alive. We are so strong and prosperous that we can scarcely imagine the heights we could ascend if we have the will to make the climb. Yet for all our prosperity, we are in danger of losing the best sense of ourselves: there is a purpose to life beyond materialism.

Cynicism is suffocating the idealism of many people. And with cause, for they have lost pride in their government. Too often those who hold a public trust have failed to set the necessary example. Too often, partisanship seems all consuming. Differences are defined with derision. Too often, we put our personal interests before the national interest, leaving the people's business unattended while we posture, poll, and spin. When we believe that government no longer embodies our founding ideals, then basic civil consensus will deteriorate as we seek substitutes for the unifying values of patriotism. National pride will not endure our contempt for government. And national pride is as indispensable to our happiness as is our self-respect.

When we quit seeing ourselves as part of something greater than our self-interest, civic love gives way to selfishness, bigotry, and hate. Unless we restore people's sovereignty, renew their pride in public service, reform our public institutions to meet the challenges of a new day, and reinvigorate our national purpose, our best days will be behind us.

To achieve the necessary changes to our democracy, we need to be a little less content. We need to get riled up a bit, and stand up for the values that made us great. Rally to this new patriotic challenge. I encourage you to enter the public life determined to tell the truth; to put problem solving ahead of partisanship; to defend the national interest against the forces that would divide us. Keep your promise to your country, and you will know a happiness far more sublime than pleasure.

Greatness is a quest without end, the object beyond the horizon. And it is a bittersweet irony of life, that the older we are, the more distant the horizon becomes. I will not see what is over the horizon. The immortality that was the aspiration of my youth, has, like all the treasures of youth, quietly slipped away.

But I have faith in you, in your passion to build upon the accomplishments of our storied past. I have faith that people who are free to act in their own interests will perceive their interests in an enlightened way and live as one nation, in a kinship of ideals.

I have faith that just beyond the distant horizon live a people who gratefully accept the obligation of their freedom to make of their power and wealth a civilization in which all people share in the promise of freedom. PE

John McCain is a United States Senator from Arizona. This article was adapted from his speech to the Republican National Convention.

ACTION: Overcome any cynicism and become more involved in promoting your ideals.