Hard to See Through All This Smoke...

"What is truth?" Pontius Pilate's words seem to echo loud this evening. Truth is a commodity that is very scarce in the public forum anymore. I look at the mainstream media, and it is full of Os blatantly trying to influence America to turn away from support of President Bush and away from the mores that have defined America for over 200 years.

According to them, President Bush's days in the White House are numbered because against all reason John Kerry's support is surging. (Never mind that article yesterday about the VERY unscientific nature of some of these polls that are being reported as "fact" by various media outlets around the country.) What is even scarier is that it is difficult to get a clear picture of what is going on in America's psyche even from conservative news outlets like Newsmax or the Drudge Report. I find myself questioning just how divided America is, despairing that we have fallen too far.

It's in moments like this that I miss President Reagan's optimism and gift of communication. I know that President Bush believes that the future is bright, but I miss the way that President Reagan communicated that to us. I hope that the President will learn from his example and bring that message of hope to the forefront of his message in the closing months of this election.

Anyway, that is neither here nor there for the purposes of this discussion. I am curious whether there still exists a corporate American identity. It is so hard to tell for all of the smoke out there. For me (I was born a patriot) it is fairly easy to identify what America is supposed to be all about. America represents freedom; not license. (There is a huge difference. Freedom knows where the boundaries of one individual’s freedom end and another’s begin. License cares about nothing but its own satisfaction.) It is about mercy in strength and honor in victory.

It was built upon the very outspoken faith of dozens of men and women throughout our history. These individuals knew that the only sure foundation for our country’s success was the Word of God. Here's the amazing paradox, though. That faith was not threatened by other faiths (or even lack thereof.) We actually granted American citizens the right to worship any way that they saw fit (within reason.)

America is brave and willing to fight for her freedoms and for the freedoms of others. We are about free enterprise and allowing an individual the right to reap the benefits of hard work. Americans are creative and hard working. We believe in justice and fairness even for the guilty. These traits have drawn people from the ends of the earth and have made us the greatest nation on the earth.

Reading the daily headlines, it is very difficult for even an optimistic idealist like me to believe that we haven’t departed from this identity. Life is very different today than it was when I was a kid back in the 70s – VERY DIFFERENT. Regardless, there is a hope inside of me that throughout this country there is a (currently) silent mass of people that are eventually going to stand up and say, “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!”

I think that the coming election will show us more clearly where we are on the whole continuum. If President Bush wins in a landslide, my faith will be somewhat restored. I certainly hope that I will get that clear an indication of where we are as a people. I just hope that it isn’t a massive tilt in the other direction. What do you do then? I don’t think that I can survive another Clintonesque era. The very thought of it makes a Mexican prison sound pleasant.

It seems evident to me that America is headed for a showdown as surely as we were in the 50 years leading up to the Civil War. There are two distinct elements in our society, and they are quickly coming to a head. My hope is that we will not abandon our heritage and the God that has defended us for the past 228 years.