On the single issue of slavery, Abraham Lincoln said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
It took a civil war and a magnanimous president to reunite the nation.
Due to the increasing polarization and the inability to compromise strongly held views on a wide range of contentious issues — abortion, guns, immigration, voting rights, civil rights and religious rights, exacerbated by a free press that creates more heat than light, coupled with weak politicians who act like weather vanes rather than lighthouses — we have become a nation adrift.
Who will be our Abraham Lincoln? Who could imagine that a nation, united in agreement that 9/11 was an attack on our nation, could in a few short years see a violent mob determined to halt the certification of a lawful election by storming our seat of governance, an act that some consider just a patriotic protest that got out of hand.
Just a “tourist visit.” No big deal. Let’s move on.
Each one of us needs to answer two questions: Should we cancel our national motto, E pluribus unum (“Out of many, one”)? Should we change our Pledge of Allegiance to address the Divided States of America?
George Howitt, Lewiston
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