Thursday, July 21, 2005 | 9:32 a.m.
Two-hundred twenty-nine years ago a new nation was born and there followed a Constitution and a Bill of Rights. These allowed citizens the right to pursue their goals of happiness and their religious beliefs to the fullest, as long as their beliefs did not infringe on other citizens.
Eighty-four years later a Civil War was fought, not only to hold this new nation together, but also to ensure that these rights would remain. Great battles were fought -- Gettysburg, Bull Run, Antietam -- at the cost of thousands of lives. This young country, in its short existence, has fought in two world wars, in which more of its sons and daughters, by the hundreds of thousands, died to keep the principles that have made it the most democratic country in the world.
Today we are engaged in still another war and men and women are still dying. This time the danger comes from within -- lobbyists, corporations and political administrations that want to undermine the fundamentals that this nation promised its citizens. Subversive and corrupt actions threaten to divide our nation more than than the spilling of blood, because they pit large populations against one another.
President Lincoln said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." This is a strong house but if you whittle away at the foundation long enough, it will fall. This country is not Christian, Jewish nor Muslim. Neither is it black or white. We are Americans. When we separate, we become weak. Spartans, Romans, Huns -- all of these civilizations tried to separate and all failed.
Let history guide us so that this nation will inspire other nations, not by force, but rather by development and achievement, so that we, as humans, can live in a peaceful and civilized world.
NEIL ROSENKRANTZ
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