James Mattis, a former Marine general who had been recently appointed Secretary of Defense, was being interviewed by reporter Dexter Filkins. The reporter asked Mattis what worried him most in his new position. Filkins expected him to say ISIS or Russia or the defense budget. Instead, Mattis said, “The lack of political unity in America. The lack of a fundamental friendliness. It seems like an awful lot of people in America and around the world feel spiritually and personally alienated, whether it be from organized religion or from local community school districts or from their governments… If you lose any sense of being part of something bigger, then why should you care about your fellow-man?”