In politics, nowhere does this tension between core values play out more starkly than in debates over liberty versus equality.

CNN: 2012 winner must unite America on ideals

In the tension between America's values and America's interests, the variety of responses is both explicable and defensible.

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We hold these and a host of other values in dynamic tension within a complex soup of cherished beliefs.

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Yet as Lipset and others have argued, these values can be in serious tension with each other.

CNN: 2012 winner must unite America on ideals

In an environment that values collaboration as the top priority, employees hesitate to take any action that causes tension or appears to be divisive.

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And within America, there has long been a tension between those who describe themselves as realists or idealists -- a tension that suggests a stark choice between the narrow pursuit of interests or an endless campaign to impose our values.

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