YouRule!: How Saving America Depends Entirely on You and What You Can Do About It

By Michael F. Ryan

Do you believe our republic is under a grave threat, as polls say most Americans do? Are you astonished by America's one-of-a-kind system of self-governance, or just would like to be? Enter YouRule! – How Saving America Depends Entirely on You And What You Can Do About It.
It's a short, uplifting Owner's Manual for the American citizen, since you, in fact, run the United States of America. You do, indeed, rule.
YouRule! describes in fun fashion how your country is supposed to run, what kind of shape it's in, how it got that way, and how you – and only you, as a sovereign citizen – can give it a desperately needed tune-up.
YouRule! reveals the nature of, and the danger to, our civic infrastructure. You'll discover the Five Pillars of Our Civic Infrastructure and the five tools each of us can pick up to repair it – the very keys to running your own country. You'll discover America's secret sauce – what makes this country truly exceptional compared to any other in history.
You'll also learn how fragile the most powerful nation on Earth really is: Since Americans are bound together not by our ethnicity, but by our ideas and ideals, it's totally up to us to keep it together – figuratively and literally.
You see, the American Experiment in total self-governance has always been a blindfolded, one-foot balancing act on the edge of a cliff while juggling flaming porcupines. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to keep those porcupines flying.
Still, you'll also discover the immense power you have as an ordinary citizen to strengthen and protect this country – in part through what I promise you is the coolest civics lesson you will ever hear. (Hint: How would you celebrate having amended the U.S. Constitution? Well, it so happens I posed that question to someone who actually did!)
You will, in short, appreciate this country and your role in it as never before.
Understand this: You are this country's king, prince and potentate – even if, like me, you don't know a potentate from a potato. As such, you own the best governance machine ever invented. Yet, it's suffering from inexcusable neglect. When only 20-25% of high school students test proficient in U.S. history and civics, 37% of adults can't name even one of the five rights in the First Amendment, and 33% are unable to name the three branches of government, the American system of self-governance is up on blocks under a dusty tarp in a desolate garage.
The polls are right: The American republic is in great danger, mostly from our own ignorance and indifference.
YouRule! can change that – perhaps by changing you. YouRule! will help you get excited about getting in the self-governance game, and give you concrete ideas on how to do it.
Here's the problem: "Most of us don't understand the idea of self-government enough to be properly astonished by it," as author Eric Metaxas writes.
Here's the solution: YouRule!
Get astonished! Get in the game!

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jul 24, 2023
• ISBN: 9798350915334

Book preview

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Copyright © 2023 by Michael Ryan

All rights reserved

First edition

Cover and superhero illustrations by the fabulous Rick McKee

ISBN: 979-8-35-091533-4

Table of Contents

A Real Page-Turner

American Exceptionalism: The Secret Sauce

No One Set More People Free

Our historic juggling act

An American Selfie: You’re Going to Want to Delete This One

How Did We Get Here and Whom Can We Blame?

OK, Come On. What Is Our Civic Infrastructure Anyway?

All Right Then, Where Do We Start?

Civics

Citizenship

Civility

Constitution

Character

What Could Possibly Be Worse Than 9/11? Well, This …

OK, But What Can I Do About It?

Oh, Yeah. What About That Guy, Watson?

The Do-It-Yourself Potentate: 10 Easy Things You Can Do to Save America

About the Author

Introduction

Congratulations! Welcome to the Board of Directors of the United States of America.

You see, in this country you rule. You are your own czar, emperor, monarch, prince and potentate. Bet you didn’t know that. Bet most of us don’t even know a potentate from a potato, but you are one. Potentate, that is.

In short, you are in charge of the most powerful nation in history, one forged in freedom with the highest ideals known to man, and protected by the blood of patriots.

Don’t mess it up.

Just kidding. I’m confident you won’t. Not with this quick-read, handy-dandy Potentate Owner’s Manual. In it, you’ll learn—or just get excited about—what makes this country tick and how to keep it humming. It is, after all, your responsibility as a sovereign citizen to know this stuff.

Problem is—and it’s a HUGE problem—a great many Americans either don’t know or don’t care about this sacred responsibility.

In the historical film Braveheart, a character says of early Scotland, From top to bottom this country has no sense of itself. Isn’t that America today? It would seem so. Too many of us aren’t familiar with the country’s foundational concepts and, in many cases, are dismissive of them—as evidenced by repeated attacks on freedom of speech and religion and other constitutional rights.

Huge swaths of the population, and ominously many of our young, can’t pass a basic American civics test, recall any of the five First Amendment rights, or name the three branches of