We can't keep drawing lines in the sand

Republicans Cruz to their finish line, hoping not to use their Trump card. And as they do so, they drag us closer and closer to Joseph McCarthy's definition of who Americans should be. They hearken us to June and Ward Cleaver; Wally and The Beav in the wings – the good sons. Their family made America great!

Back then there were only five nations on the planet that mattered, and we could lick any one of the others; possibly all four if we put our minds to it! A line drawn in the sand meant something ... back then.

Mr. Cruz, the Canadian, should know something from his present state's history about the futility of lines drawn in the sand. The small furrow at the Alamo didn't last long. And in my time the ones drawn with heavy boots around Vietnam didn't contain that non-Big Five member's will to survive.

It makes no sense to demand that returning America to an ill-defined definition of greatness is better for us, or the rest of the planet. We are no longer a planet lorded over by the Big Five. No one nation can oversee the earth, as the current rush of Republicans would have it.

Today's leaders must be disciplined in their history; wise and tempered with their reach of power; and educated to their role within the global community. As Republicans with shaky hands strive to fill their half-empty glass, the rest of the world hopes they don't drop it!

This story was originally published January 29, 2016 at 8:44 AM with the headline "We can't keep drawing lines in the sand."