In this atmosphere of continuous improvement, several values must be upheld:

* the celebration of error. Unless you make a mistake, and acknowledge it, you can't learn, and therefore can't improve, and therefore take a giant step toward death.

* openness to innovation. Not every idea is a good one, but all must be respected or at least given a fair hearing before being discarded. To do otherwise discourages the flow of ideas, and risks losing the Big Idea that might extend organizational life another 100 years.

* the right to hold opinions. A functioning organization encourages negativity because it tests its own premises that way, and the testing guarantees that the best ideas will survive. When a company says "No more ideas, please," it is closing the door to its best chances for future survival. A country of yes-men is a country marked for destruction.

What are these concepts? They are the underpinnings of the American system that has worked pretty successfully the last 200 years. And they explain why the most American thing one can be is "Anti-American."

Rebels may provide the leadership that will succeed the current leadership. This is a good thing.

Contrary ideas test conventional notions. The strongest, ideally, survive.

Criticism is proof that everyone is thinking, and we all need to think.

To criticize the way the system works does not mean you oppose the values of the system. To the contrary, it means you want the current machine to better understand and hew to those values.

Get it? Being "Anti-American" is the American way. It's the attitude Jefferson and Franklin and Madison were counting on to carry us through difficult times.

So the next time someone calls you "Anti-American" because you differ from the President, tell them:

"Thanks for understanding. Seeking better solutions is one way I serve the country I love."