How to destroy a nation

As I drove the short jaunt to work yesterday, I wanted to cry. No immediate, external stimuli precipitated my emotions. No, it was the ever-present thoughts of George W. Bush that cast their pall over my morning.

This is a great nation filled with great people who want to do the right thing. Red states, consider yourselves included. Sure, we screwed the Native Americans back in the day. Our leaders have committed all sorts of other "bads," too. But I don't feel like I, personally, screwed the indians, and you probably don't, either. This is the point.

September 11th, as horrible an atrocity as it was, summoned the camaraderie of great people living in a great nation. We weren't new to this amity, this togetherness and shared sense of purpose. We've felt it before, and it has led to great triumphs and some of the very best in world history. Victory in World War II comes to mind.

So, why did I want to cry yesterday morning on my way to work? Well, it dawned on me. The best strategy to destroy a nation as great as ours and crush the spirits of the great people who populate this land would go something like this:

Allow a calamity of epic proportions to befall us. Take the distinctly American brand of goodwill and sense of purpose that grows out of shared loss and squander it. Pit Americans against Americans in time of war. Watch us lose the War on Terror.

If it weren't so despicable, it would be masterful.