How Moral Standards and Courage Build Strong Leaders Within American Government. AP Seminar. April 2024. Over the years, the American government has changed greatly, because of this, the country and its government must adapt to the rapidly developing atmosphere and culture. The United States government is run by many leaders, and due to most only being able to serve for limited terms, this leads to the environment of the United States changing even more rapidly, constantly having its ups and downs. Each government leader has different values regarding the way they believe that the country should be run. To earn support from the people and to even be elected in the first place, government leaders need to be adaptable, able to easily …show more content…
Because it is not possible for an American government leader to please everyone with their outlooks and stances on how the government should be run, they can ensure that they are elected by having strong values that the American people agree with. The most important principles that are found not just within leaders of the United States government, but in highly influential people all over the world, are their moral standards and overall sense of courage. The term moral standards can mean something different for every person. In the article “Moral Courage and Intelligent Disobedience” by Ted Thomas and Ira Chaleff, the two authors start the article off by giving a quote from the famous ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, “‘Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality that guarantees the others.’” These authors then include their own quote, “Courage is a primary virtue, as all other virtues require it.” This quote proves that the most important moral standard is courage, as it connects with every other standard that people tend to look for to take on leadership roles. …show more content…
The Great Recession in 2008 was caused by a rise and fall in the housing market. This was the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression and the United States faced a decline of 2.8% in gross domestic product and an unemployment rate of around 10%, whereas the Great Depression had a decline of over 10% in gross domestic product and an unemployment rate of 25% (The Investopedia Team.) The other, and more recent event, would be the minor recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The lockdown caused by this disease left many U.S. citizens temporarily unemployed. The decline in gross domestic product was around 9%, which was more than the Great Recession. At its peak, the unemployment rate was around 14%. However, both of these rates were able to stabilize and go back to their previous levels a lot quicker than they did in the depression or recession (“Chart Book: Tracking the Recovery From the Pandemic Recession”). This was solely because of the experience and courage held by the government in all of these events. An important value that helped the country overcome and recover from these financial declines was stated by Franklin D. Roosevelt in his inaugural address, “Restoration calls, however, not for