Editor,

Never in my 16 cycles of voting have I seen our country more divided. As I look around I see a battleground with two opposing forces, red and blue, who are at a standstill, hurling insults at each other and accomplishing nothing. I’m reminded of the Pogo cartoon saying, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

Our country was founded by men of integrity and vision who believed we must place God’s principles and truth first if we are to survive. God’s word tell us “Without wise leadership, a nation falls” and also “the fear (obedience) of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Many today don’t believe in God and are trying to remove God from our lives.

There was a time when senators and members of Congress from different political parties were friends and worked together to help our nation prosper without caving to “special interest groups.” To end division people from all political persuasions will have to stop fighting each other and seek true unity.

One of the greatest killers of that unity is our pride. It causes anger, hurt and foolishness while destroying humility and reconciliation. Our leaders must show tolerance to each other without discarding the core values that made our country great. One of my favorite sayings goes like this: The only thing we’ve learned from history is that we haven’t learned anything from history.

Like other countries in world history, we have wandered away from our strong belief in God and many don’t know what they believe, but it’s still possible to reverse the trend and recapture the vision of our forefathers.

Merlin Lane

Arlington