By Warner M. Montgomery

High atop the AT&T/Affinity/South Trust/Whatever Building in downtown Columbia, an equally highfalutin philosophy professor from St. John's University spoke to the Bastiet Society (see Ben.Rast@morganstanley.com) Tuesday at noon.

Dr. Douglas B. Rasmussen, author of Norms of Liberty (Penn State U., 2005), said liberalism is in a fight for its existence throughout the modern world. Not liberalism as in liberal vs. conservative. Not liberalism as in Democrat vs. Republican. Not liberalism as communitarianism. But classical liberalism that stands firm for a person's basic right to life, liberty, and property.

Rasmussen presented a poem he first heard from a Lithuanian emigrant in Iowa when he was a young boy. The poem, written by Dean Alfange, is entitled My Creed . This poem, he said, has influenced his life ever since and is a neat presentation of true liberalism.

I do not choose to be a common man.

It is my right to be uncommon - if I can.

I seek opportunity - not security.

I do not wish to be a kept citizen,

Humbled and dulled by having the state look after

me.

I want to take the calculated risk,

To dream and to build, to fail and to succeed.

I refuse to barter incentive for a dole.

I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed

existence,

The thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia.

I will not trade freedom for beneficence

Or my dignity for a handout.

I will never cower before any master nor bend to

any threat.

It is my heritage to stand erect, proud,

And unafraid, to think and act for myself,

Enjoy the benefits of my creations

And to face the world boldly and say, this I have

done.

All this is what it means to be an American.