Our really serious divide

[GTurck]

The problems in our political and social culture have been thrown into sharp relief with the recent primaries and Mike Huckabee's statement on amending the Constitution to align it with God's will. American's won't talk or respect each others views or experiences.
The problem, of course, is the Us vs Them model of society. It is the split not healed because no one will admit it exists and it is going septic on us. It is driving us insane in too many ways to enumerate and it will kill this country unless we address it.
The primaries are in many ways only about the candidates from each party but they are also the time for them to show their abilities, if they exist,to lead and inspire ALL AMERICANS.
It has been Bush's failing that he has ruled as though the only citizens were the oligarch families of which he is a member and not the 300 million people who pay his salary. Like him most of the current candidates seem to be forgetting the larger constituency that is America. I think the GOP, as usual, is doing a much worse job at being truly American but the sniping of Democrats in forums like Democratic Underground is a problem too.
In 2008, our core problem, is the fragmenting of everyone into smaller and smaller identity groups who have no reason (though they really do in a democracy) to meld their interests for the common good. We have become a nation of 6th grade cliques. So Republicans and Democrats ignore all those outside of their field of interest and votes. That's not a vote that will heal this country or bring it back from the brink of tyranny.
Nation building and governance do not require a CEO but someone who understands the great experiment that our Founders began and Abraham Lincoln revived..