There are some men whose lives illuminate the life of a whole nation. Pat Tillman revealed the grandeur of the American "sense of life"—while Ronald Reagan revealed America's tragic inability to translate that sense of life into a consistent philosophy.

From the article:

"When a man dies, it is appropriate to assess the legacy of his life. But there are some men whose deaths are more than just an occasion to remember the meaning of their own lives. There are men whose lives reflect and illuminate the life of a whole nation.

"Two deaths in recent months fit into this category: one man whose passing was commemorated by all of America, with a pomp and ceremony seen only once every few decades—and one whose death received only passing attention from the media.

"The less-noted death was that of Pat Tillman, a US Army Ranger killed in fighting against Taliban remnants in a remote region of Afghanistan. Tillman was no ordinary soldier. Deeply affected by September 11, the 27-year-old had passed up a $3.6 million professional football contract with the Arizona Cardinals to join the Army in 2002. His April 22 death brought press attention, briefly, to an unusual profile in patriotism.

"The story did not last long in the press, largely for one reason: Tillman resisted attempts to publicize his actions, and he made no public statements explaining why he gave up a successful sports career to fight for his country. This fact caused the press to lose interest quickly, for lack of new material to present—but it is precisely what makes Tillman's story uniquely interesting."

• The News in Focus
"Altruism and Dictatorship"

• Editorial Cartoon by Cox & Forkum
"When Worlds Collude"

• What Made the Roaring '20s Roar
The Cause and Consequences of the Great Depression, Part 1
by Richard M. Salsman

Were the "Roaring Twenties" an example of "false prosperity" caused by "reckless" laissez-faire policies—setting up the "inevitable" crash of 1929? In the first installment of a four-part series on the Great Depression, economist Richard Salsman refutes the standard academic mythology about the decade before the depression.

From the article:
"Coolidge and Mellon generally adopted a laissez-faire stance toward the economy; they neither subsidized farmers, businessmen, and investors nor harmed or impeded them. The president's non-interventionist posture reflected his abiding respect for producers of every kind. Coolidge believed 'civilization and profits go hand in hand' and remarked once that 'The man who builds a factory builds a temple, the man who works there worships there and to each is due not scorn and blame but reverence and praise.'

"Another bullish context for the 1920s was Britain's return to gold. The government had suspended the gold-coin standard during World War I after abiding by it for a century. In April 1925, Britain again made the pound convertible into a fixed weight of gold. It was a gold-bullion system, not a gold-coin standard, which made convertibility less practical for pound-holding citizens. But other central banks could again demand gold and keep the Bank of England honest. Other countries—Canada, Germany, Italy, and France—also returned to gold in some form while Britain was doing so. In however diluted a form the world returned to gold, these decisions, together with US tax-rate cuts, were bullish. After World War I, the foundation for prosperity had been strengthened: a militaristic German regime was vanquished, thereby restoring peace and the conditions needed for greater trade; the British pound was again gold-based; and US tax rates were being cut dramatically.

"The prosperity of the 1920s was both genuine and sustainable; it lasted about eight years (1922–1929) and ended only when statist policies were re-imposed. From the spring of 1921 to the summer of 1929, industrial production in America more than doubled, growing at a compounded rate of nearly 10% per year. Such a robust and prolonged period of economic progress in the US has never since been matched. In America's recorded history, the only other eight-year period of similar growth occurred amid the Industrial Revolution of the 1870s."