Lost of ideals

"America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens. Every child must be taught these principles . Every citizen must uphold hem. And every immigrant, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more, not less, American."

January 20, 2001, George W. Bush, in his inaugural address.

Election time, 2008, America has never before been so disunited by blood or birth or soil or political ideology. We are separated by different ideals formed by our disparate backgrounds. Our interests pull us apart and drag us down to levels of incivility (usually from the left) teaching false notions of citizenship ( such as uninformed voting and voter registration fraud, again usually from he left). Every child must be re-taught the principles for which America once stood: self- reliance, freedom of choice, love of country and knowledge of its history, duties of citizenship, personal responsibility and moral living. Too many immigrants, unfortunately, have been allowed over time to avoid learning these ideals. Too many Americans over more than one generation haves also abandoned them. Now, 2008, election time, we confront the great divide. The great chasm yawns.

To my mind appears the vision of the twin stone lions at the entrance of the New York library - Patience and Fortitude. I wish they cannot be transmogrified as spirits capable of entering each individual American. Patience and fortitude infused into each individual citizen will be necessary in the years ahead if we hope to retrieve or resurrect the ideals for which we stand. Post President Obama, the disuniting of America will only intensify. Our halcyon days are far, far beyond the winter solstice, about December 22, 2008.