Last night was the annual televised "State of the Union" address delivered by President George W. Bush.  Usually the President, of whichever party, uses this occasion to review accomplishments and major events and also to suggest major emphases for the coming year.  There is some question about the practicality of a "lame duck" President doing this.  One never knows until one hears what he says.  I'm sure that each of us has an opinion on the subject.  Pretty much depending on your politics, you may judge the state of the nation to be thumbs up or thumbs down, meaning thumbs up--we're going in the right direction--and thumbs down--we're going in the wrong direction.  The out of power party will have a rebuttal at the end of the address.  The rancor between Bush and the Democrats has been such that I can't imagine anything good coming out of that exercise.

Back to the point, what is the state of the union?  Strictly defined, the union is intact.  All fifty states are firmly attached to the Union.  No one is presently threatening to secede from the Union.  So in that light, the state of the Union is solid.  No cracks.  We usually note other things in the State of the Union, among them being the economy.  Compared to where we were several years ago, the economy is in great shape.  The stock market is up, and the projections are for the market to go even higher.  By recent standards, however, the market is down from its all time high in October of 14,100 plus points.  We aren't there right now.  In fact, the market has taken a beating in recent weeks.  The cause?  Lowered confidence in the economy, trouble in overseas economies, the sub-prime Adjustable rate mortgage crisis, and there are other factors.  Our dependence on foreign oil is still high, probably too high.  We need to see progress in alternative and synthetic fuel production.  The housing market is glutted right now with way over-valued homes.  Prices of homes need to fall so that people will purchase them.  Prices of other goods and items need to fall, also, so that consumers can afford them.  When consumers are buying, the market is usually pretty good.  When consumers aren't buying, then there is a problem.  Consumer debt is at an all time high.  That is a problem.  The value of the dollar is nearly at an all time low.  That is a problem.

In Iraq, Gen. Petraeus seems to have made a positive difference in his leadership of our forces in Iraq.  The Iraqis have decided for whatever reason to side with us now against Al Qaeda, and that is a good thing.  We must remember, however, that the enemy of my enemy is my friend--always in the Middle East.  Things have calmed down some in Iraq, but the tensions with Iran have heightened.  The terrorist threat still emanates from Afghanistan/Pakistan, and we don't seem to be making too much progress there.  Remember that Russia met a humiliating defeat in Afghanistan back in the 1990's.
   
On the relationship front, we seem to be just as divided and partisan as ever.  Bush has not been a unifier but a divider.  I'm not sure that anyone else would have done any differently--on any side of the Congressional aisle.  There are issues which are not really Democratic or Republican issues but American issues.  The state of the union would be and will be much better when politicians on both sides of the aisle realize that what many citizens/ voters want is bipartisan cooperation and new solutions to old problems.  When we begin to see this bipartisan cooperation, then we will see the state of the union improve markedly.

Spiritually, officially there is no state religion or state church.  None of us would tolerate that.  So what do we have?  We used to call it separation of church and state, but it really never has been total separation.  Not when churches and religions get tax breaks.  So the government gives breaks to the churches, synagogues, and religions.  What else can we say about the spiritual state of our nation?  Are our churches and religions strong?  Is attendance at worship up?  Is giving to religious causes up?  Is religion making any difference?  Are we more moral?  Are we any more at peace than we were?  Is crime on the rise or on the decline?  Spiritually, I guess we would have to say that we might not be doing so well.  There is certainly room for improvement--everywhere.

Well, despite these and other problems and difficulties, the USA is still my country and I would rather live here than anywhere else in the world.  What about you?