In the last of this series, American history continues through the present:
A Nation In Need of Unity by Michael Doyle George H. Bush struggled under Reagan's shadow With his pedigree and skills he led well as most know It was Bush not Reagan who saw the Cold War's end But most of this was already in trend Within a year of Tiananmen Square's suppression Germans would tear down the Wall, reuniting as one nation One by one, part by part, the Soviet Empire disintegrated By the end of 1991, most of Europe was reintegrated Bush kept his dignity in check with humility Even as all around him danced with overjoyed victory With the Cold War ending, new challenges would come It was important to prudently watch for where that would come The arrangement for order with its variation of choices Were as mixed as were its many toned choir of voices Terrorism and rogue states reared their ugly heads Global security was still needed as thugs caused dread Iraq's invasion of Kuwait was against the intended Order It took more than condemnation to push Hussein over the border Operation Desert Storm's overwhelming force stopped the invasion While attempting to successfully extricate our nation It was a textbook attempt at the Containment Doctrine Whose fatal flaw was in leaving a madman as sovereign Fukayama's thesis had declared its end to all history The world was declared the oyster of liberal democracy While some might find the new world order favored our nation Others saw a looming clash between world civilizations Huntington argued the coming clash between cultural ways of life Historically and religiously would create much strife This and other drift has led to a quarter century of discontent Where those having differing values have risen as malcontents Economics are not the only factor that is ever needed To stand strong in the age of fracture this must be heeded Commonality between all has given way to fractured living Where each of a million voices want to take instead of giving None of the administrations since the Cold War have made unity And instead, we are more fractured than ever in our history America's confidence has waned in almost all of our institutions Disaffection has never loomed larger in our once great nation Wishful thinking will not bring our nation back together But to reintegrate is the only way to make things better The imperilment of our national debt is beyond question One of the most significant issues to confront without hesitation Annual deficits are a low parade our nation in its sinking Unsustainable in being and requiring much in the way of thinking With the pandemic, we are adding trillions of debt each year Governmental functions must very swiftly reverse gear Yet nothing is being done about the debilitation And almost all agree we must join in our rehabilitation Both public and private debt trend toward our corruption At best and at worse it leads to our nation's disruption We are still a land of hope and shine even in this hour And saving our country for our children is in our power Study of the past serves to provide lessons in inspiration Together we have faced far worse problems for our nation There is a Chinese symbol meaning both crisis and change And it with this thought that we must swiftly rearrange We should not stay blinded by the seemingly exceptional now But should refocus to our best truths in our somehow Looking back to look ever more and increasingly forward With the view of being borne ever increasingly toward.. … our future (c) April 13, 2020 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
