Hi Kristyne....

Like Doug, I am a person of faith and while I have a lot of respect for Doug and share many of his feelings I do not think our country is on the eve of demise.... not just yet anyway. :) and not becasue of the elections. However, I do think that the election is a pretty good indicator of "some" of what is bad with our country but (IMO) it is just not the beginning of the "end".

>I personally believe that this country has made great progress in terms of >personal morality in the way we treat one another. As many problems as we >have, there is more equality, more civility, better treatment of minorities >and women, fairer treatment of employees, better consumer protections, more >freedom in the press, and many more things too numerous to mention.

IMO some of what you said is true. Recently Americans have been VERY interested in matters of faith. A number of polls have shown this to be the case. "personal morality" is a bit of a slippery slope. The definitions of that are too many to count. (or re-count! < s >) There is a new show on Showtime called "Queer as Folk" that some actually are saying shows our PROGRESS in personal morality. Being one that does not like to condem something before they actually see it I watched about 25 minutes of it the other night. 25 minutes is all I could stand. It is vulgar, base, and obscene. How anyone could say this shows progress in personal morality is beyond me. I am certianly not suggesting that YOU are making that distinction but I am trying to make a point that the concept of personal morality.... is in the eye of the beholder. < s >

ON the other hand, there is also more murder, more addiction, more poverty (odd considering we are in the greatest period of prosperity since the great depression), more hunger, more homelessness, more depression, more divorce, more road rage, and that list could go on an on. There are things going on that in just my short lifetime (46 years) I could never have imagined.

Having said that, I'm not unaware that there are some good things going on and for that we should be thankful. However, our problems are serious and many and there needs not only to be a recognition of that but also a resolve to change that and I believe that the place that should start is in the centers of faith and in each community. The Government is just not able to give the kind of help that is needed and now with our government close to deadlock we can not have any faith that the real needs of our country are going to be able to be delt with. Above all else... this is what scares me most about this election.

>This is a good country that is trying hard to get better. I'm glad to be here.

Yes! Me Too! :)