The West, including the United States, has entered into a period of ennui, a period of self-loathing, where a sizeable part of the body politic thinks life is not worth living, the country is not worth defending, faith and redemption a fantasy for fools, and the future is a non-existent dream. Fortunately, they are about to be swept away by a revulsion to the hedonistic nostrums of the 1960s. There is every indication the generation of cynics and despairers is coming to an end. The American spirit is being revived by the Tea Party people, who believe in the American dream, American exceptionalism,and the American work ethic that says if you work hard you will succeed. America was built by people who thought that the next hill was not insurmountable, that the next hill was not the end, but the beginning.     

The rolling sands stretch into time

The beck’ning hills in distance wait

The sea spray flecks the beach with rime

The runner listens to his gait

Beyond the hills he knows not what

He only knows that he must go

He leaves his house, his home, his hut

And why it is he does not know

Much wearied now he claims the crest

Before him lies the promised land

In distance beck’ning hills still rest

The future filled with rolling sand

He presses on still, undeterred

For duty binds him close with steel

He sees the radiance unblurred

And knows the sand and hills unreal

A testing of his faith and worth

A trial that lasts as long as he

Is bound to sky and sun and earth

And rolling sand and restless sea

The runner knows to reach his goal

He must not rest but persevere

His life is work in part or whole

And faith in what he may revere

His family, god , ancestors who

Set out the way that he must live

Who guide and teach him what to do

To give all that he has to give