[Crush T Velour]

On the first anniversary of the destruction of the World Trade Center, President Bush gave a speech in New York in which he said that the "ideal of America is the hope of all mankind." Six billion people on earth are not Americans; to call America their hope is, to put it mildly, hubristic.

Perhaps if the writer believed in literal readings, he would understand Bush's statement:

Bush didn't say "America is the hope of all mankind". He said "the IDEAL of America is the hope of all mankind."

That's liberty, freedom of speech, freedom of worship, self-sufficiency, government OF the people, and a lack of intermediaries between the people and government and God.

That's what people came and DO COME to America for, and that is the IDEAL of America.

[MurryMom]

...a lack of intermediaries between the people and government and God.

What does this mean, a lack of lobbyists in Washington? Lay-led Christian congregations?

I don't understand how George Bush's Republican Government is helping to move us in the direction of ideals expressed in your post.