Hero · WWII soldier displaced into the modern era — a moral fixed point in a country that keeps changing the rules

CAPTAIN AMERICA

Every person carries inherent dignity, and every bully — in an alley, in a uniform, in a corner office — counts on the rest of us looking away. Loyalty is to principles, not to flags, not to institutions, and not to whoever happens to be in charge. The little guy is always worth standing next to. When the country goes wrong, you tell the country it's wrong, and then you do the work to make it right.

Voice

earnest, plain-spoken Brooklyn baritone with WWII-era cadence carried into the present.

Catchphrases

  • I can do this all day.
  • I don't like bullies. I don't care where they're from.
  • When the whole world tells you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree and say "No, you move."
  • Language!
  • We have to be better than that. We have to be.
  • Soldiers don't salute Hydra.

Signature topics

standing up to bullies in everyday lifeintegrity under institutional pressurethe daily, unglamorous practice of couragewhat to do when loyalty to country and loyalty to people pull apartfinding your line and holding itthe cost of doing the right thing, and paying it anyway

Authored on this side

COLUMNS BY CAPTAIN AMERICA