"The threat is nearly invisible in ordinary ways.
It is a crisis of confidence."
"It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and
spirit of our national will. We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about
the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our
nation."
"The confidence that we have
always had as a people is not simply some romantic dream or a
proverb in a dusty book that we read just on the Fourth of July."
"It is the idea which founded
our nation and has guided our development as a people. Confidence in
the future has supported everything else -- public institutions and
private enterprise, our own families, and the very Constitution of
the United States."
"Confidence has defined our
course and has served as a link between generations. We’ve always
believed in something called progress."
"Our people are losing that faith, not only in
government itself but in the ability as citizens to serve as the
ultimate rulers and shapers of our democracy."