CHAPTER ONE

A CONSPECTUS OF GREAT ISSUES

At midcentury, the United States of America finds itself at the focal point of its history. Behind it lies its past; ahead of it, its future. To the north lies Canada, to the South, Florida. The great watery seas press against either coastline; the Great Atlantic & Pacific chain connects the two and thus repairs an oversight of God.

From the beginning, Americans have known the meaning of challenge. Denied by a niggardly nature the vast snowy resources of the northern reaches, its people were not able to house themselves with simple blocks of snow. Possessed of virtually no deserts, the dynamism and thrust of oasis life were not available to our inhabitants. Thus in a climate of temperance we were forced to make dates, rather than grow them. The result has been The American Way of Life.

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To these elemental challenges came others of a yet more subtle nature. Deprived of the great snowy mantle of snow, we were unable to solve our problems of transportation by the sled, and thus had to invent the wheel. Our terrain being fundamentally unsuited to the camel, we became a driven people. Thus has evolved that combination of lovableness, wisdom, tact, and thoughtfulness which -- with all its faults -- we call the American Character.

But at midcentury, the American Way of Life and the American Character find themselves challenged to a degree hitherto unknown to either. To an extraordinary extent we have succeeded in overcoming the challenges of the past. Snow, or artificial snow, now blankets the great ski-runs of the states of Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, and Maryland. In the deserts of Nevada, oases have taken root. Camels have not only been domesticated but have increased to king-size. Over eighty-seven percent of American homes today know the wheel, and many homes have two, or even three such wheels. Our biggest wheels, appropriately enough, are to be found in our seat of government, which is in Washington, D.C.

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Yet these triumphs of the past do not in themselves portend
equal triumphs in the future. Achievement in a society is not
enough. That is merely contentment. And contentment is merely
happiness. It is this basic, if harsh truth, to which America
must now face.

And so we turn now to a conspectus of the great issues.
Themselves. For it is the nature of such a conspectus itself that
it in itself is itself the issue. It is with these insights that
we must rise to the challenge of the future.