This is the ninth and final article in a nine-part series examining the principles that guide the Centercratic Party and the conditions that make American self-government possible. The eight principles examined before this one have addressed the structural guardrails of democracy, how elections and courts and institutions are supposed to function, and the norms of principled leadership: governing honestly, defending freedom, building consensus. Principle 9 is the capstone. That principle rests on two foundational pillars of democratic theory: the shared commitment to democracy that gives America’s role in the world its moral authority, and the vibrant civil society and independent information that define the version of America the world either admires or doubts.³