> What has happened to our country that has left it so divided? I don't
> remember anyone trying to force their beliefs down another's throat when I
> was younger. This is supposed to be a country where we respect everyone's
> religious beliefs not impose our own.
>
> We have to find a way to pull together or divided we will fall.

(The above from a correspondent on a list. I thought my answer might be of interest. I could of course be wrong. It happened once...).

I concur with your sentiment; which is why Obama is important. He's apparently the only truly unifying voice out there.

As to what happened, the history of illegitimacy over the last eight years, both in our national political tribulations and our international engagements, is all the explanation I think is needed. 9-11 was addressed as an act of war, when it should have been addressed as an international crime. Illegitimate warfare on a huge scale followed, and the nation lost its repute and the sympathy of the world as a result of that strategic blunder. A second consequence of elective warfaring was the necessary suppression of dissent internally and the need for the curtailment of civil liberties. People arrested in the houses of Congress because they are wearing unfriendly teeshirts, and shoved into "free-speech zones" if they want to voice their opinions publicly at events, are two quick examples.

Because the Bush Administration chose war instead of an international criminal prosecution as their response to 9-11, the country has effectively been placed on a schizophrenic footing, tied up in a battle that has lost its meaning and its place in time, but which seems perpetual.

That's my current two cents worth on it. FWIW.