[LexBaird]

You mean like we are fast becoming now?

I do indeed think we are becoming culturally balkanized. I think it is a part of politics becoming more about who has the power and what they will do to get it. Divide and conquer is the method chosen by the class and race hucksters.

America has had no character-defining event for a generation, something that relates to all of us in the way that the Civil War or WWII did. Perhaps the events of 9/11 will serve for this generation -- it is too early to tell.

[ought-six]

"America has had no character-defining event for a generation, something that relates to all of us in the way that the Civil War or WWII did. Perhaps the events of 9/11 will serve for this generation -- it is too early to tell."

I'm afraid not. Americans have short attention spans, and we are infamous for our impatience. We seek instant access and instant gratification. 9/11 is fading fast in our collective memory because it was not a long-run event (i.e., the event itself was only a couple hours in duration, unlike WWII and the Civil War, which lasted four years and took one hell of a toll). The war in Irag only lasted six weeks, and yet we had pundits yelling "quagmire" after the first week! The reconstruction of Iraq has only been going on for some three months, and the doomsayers are coming out of the woodwork saying we have lost the peace. I'm afraid the Americans of today do not have the stamina to live through a real "defining moment."