EPPC Adjunct Fellow Naomi Schaefer Riley is the editor of In Character -- a new journal from the John Templeton Foundation, launched at a party yesterday at the New York Public Library.

According to a press release from the Templeton Foundation, "In Character is about the nature and power of the everyday virtues -- virtues such as Thrift, to which the first issue is dedicated. Each issue of the magazine will examine how a particular virtue shapes our vision of the good life. Each 'single-virtue' issue will examine a virtue from different perspectives, bringing together scholars and journalists versed in public policy, the humanities, religion, and the sciences. ... The journal is intended to foster an appreciation of the virtues themselves -- and to prompt a widespread discussion of the virtues in American life."

What follows are Naomi Schaefer Riley's remarks at the In Character launch party at the New York Public Library on September 29, 2004.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I’d like to thank you all for coming to celebrate the launch of In Character with us this evening.

First I’d like to speak to the reporters in the audience. You may have noticed by now that the inaugural issue of In Character is about the virtue of thrift. And yet here we are in this swank room, dining on crispy lollipop shrimp and petit Maryland crabcakes. And you’re thinking, "Can these people not even manage to practice what they preach?" Let me just say, we anticipated that reaction.

It’s true we could have skimped more on the hors d’oeuvres, but the location for this event is very appropriate. In fact, our most famous thrifty American, Benjamin Franklin, thought that libraries were the quintessential thrifty institution. In his autobiography, Franklin describes the founding the Library Company of Philadelphia -- America's first public, subscription library -- in 1731:

With the help of some friends, Franklin writes, he "procured Fifty Subscribers of 40 shillings each to begin with & 10 shillings a Year for 50 Years, the Term our Company was to continue." Looking back, he continues, "These libraries have improved the general conversation of the Americans, made the common Tradesmen & Farmers as intelligent as most Gentlemen from other Countries, and perhaps have contributed in some degree to the Stand so generally made throughout the Colonies in Defense of their Privileges."

In other words, if a lot of people contributed a little bit of money, they could read a lot of books, improve the general conversation, illuminate the principles upon which this country was founded, and start the American Revolution.

Today, we’re offering you the same opportunity. In fact, for no money at all, you can read In Character, improve the national conversation, illuminate the principles upon which this country was founded, and maybe start your own little revolutions.

When some of you heard we were creating a journal of virtues, you suggested we might skip over some virtues and start on the vices. Dr. Templeton, would you be interested in receiving proposals for that magazine?

But before you dismiss In Character as a whole lot of academic jargon pointing ultimately to the downfall of Western Civilization, I urge you to take a look at some of the articles in this issue. New York Times reporter Damien Cave, for instance, has found thrift alive and well in the nation’s consignment shops. As he notes, "A society of shoppers, long condemned for their consumerism, somehow found a way to cut down on waste, help the poor, save some money, and look cool in the process."

But is the thrift of our grandparents and great-grandparents, the thrift upon which the American Dream was built -- anywhere to be found today? In an article called "You Kill It You Eat it and Other lessons from my Thrifty Childhood," Jean Elshtain reflects on the thrift of her Great Depression childhood and its disappearance during the sixties. Childhood expert Kay Hymowitz looks for remnants of that Protestant work ethic among American kids today, and comes up somewhat empty-handed.

I must admit, though, despite some of its superficiality, life among the adolescents of Park Slope does hold a certain appeal over that of Elshtain’s Volga immigrant family on a Midwestern farm in the 1920s.

But both of these kinds of articles allow us to put thrift -- or any other virtue -- in a context. What situations produce this virtue? What situations are conducive to its practice? Can we recreate those conditions? Do we want to?

Historian Arthur Herman looks at another time and place altogether and explains how Scots won the label of a thrifty people, to put it kindly, and why it’s not an altogether accurate one.

Of course, even to consider a particular trait a virtue, we must imagine that there is something timeless about it, something that goes beyond a particular circumstance and has the potential to reveal itself anywhere at any time. And so science writer John Horgan provides us with an overview of thrift in nature -- examining how and whether thrift manifests itself in the animal kingdom, in prehistoric man, and across human cultures today.

But why attempt this project at all? Since the market for magazines about vice seems to be pretty saturated and we didn’t want to have to put a plastic cover on In Character, we thought we’d try this instead.

Seriously, though, it is true that some of the virtues, like thrift, are rarely spoken of anymore and many would question their importance today. The first goal of In Character, then, is to examine these assumptions, to unearth some of these forgotten virtues.

While some of the virtues have not been lost entirely, their relevance to everyday life has. The connection between virtue and happiness made by ancient philosophers -- Aristotle noted that "Happiness requires completeness in virtue" -- and reiterated during the Enlightenment -- Benjamin Franklin wrote in Poor Richard’s Almanac that "Virtue and Happiness are Mother and Daughter" -- is rarely mentioned anymore. And so the second goal of this journal will be to explore the link between virtue and personal fulfillment.

Finally, there is another connection that has been lost -- the one between personal virtue and public good. After examining all of the possible factors that could make America successful -- its laws, its geography, its origins, etc. -- Tocqueville concluded that "It is therefore particularly mores that render the Americans of the United States … capable of supporting the empire of democracy." There is no reason to assume today, 170 years later, that this nation is any more capable of surviving without the virtue of its citizens. And so we at In Character hope that the articles, interviews, and surveys presented in our pages can help to articulate and perpetuate those virtues in the years and generations to come.

So please, enjoy yourself, enjoy the magazine and, in the spirit of our thrift issue, we strongly encourage everyone to clean their plates.