Born to be Free

Jack Miller’s Born to Be Free examines the beauty and power of the American principles that our founding fathers gave us and the lack of knowledge about them in today’s society. With a preface by distinguished professor and author James Ceaser (University of Virginia), Miller goes on to advocate for communicating these values by introducing them back into higher education. Miller examines the overarching benefits of teaching our country’s founding principles and how that could impact America’s future. Miller founded the Jack Miller Center for Teaching America’s Founding Principles and History 14 years ago, launching a project to get these teachings back onto college campuses. The work has also allowed him to expand his own knowledge by discussing and debating our country’s founding ideas with professors and scholars from the Center’s network of over 900 academics across the country. In the book’s second section, Miller discusses the programs and growth of the Jack Miller Center along with its ongoing success in partnering with and supporting educators. Building on its success in higher education, the project has expanded to include graduate courses and seminars for high school teachers to enrich their knowledge of America’s founding principles and history and help them introduce these principles into their classrooms. The final chapters of the book dive into the personal life of Miller, exploring his past from a modest beginning, on through his college years, and eventually to becoming a prominent Chicago-area entrepreneur and philanthropist. All the while, he underscores the great need for education in our country’s founding principles, and why he has devoted so much time, effort, and so many millions of dollars into this project.

Some claim America is an idea.  It isn’t; America is a set of shared values, where ideas flourish, as long as the ideas don’t subvert the values. Yes values are only “shared” if they are effectively communicated. And our educational institutions are failing at that job.  Miller delivers some stinging rebukes about the present state of education, but is always optimistic about the future. In this deeply personal and yet universal book, Miller calls us back toward teaching the values of the Founding. And the indispensable value at the core of his analysis is one we have nearly forgotten: responsibility., Jack Miller is a man who loves his country and reveres the political principles on which it is founded. But he fears that younger generations of Americans are not learning or appreciating these principles, so he founded The Jack Miller Center (JMC) to encourage the study and teaching of these principles. This book presents Mr. Miller's understanding of American principle and tells of his efforts to found JMC. It is an all-round fascinating read.

Jack Miller is the founder and former president/CEO of Quill Corporation and serves as chairman of the Jack Miller Family Foundation.