Are We to Be the World's Greatest Force for Good or Not?

America is going through convulsions that may destroy it as the country we and the world have known for more than two centuries.

For all its flaws -- virtually all of which were not unique to America but universal throughout human civilization -- America has been regarded more than any other nation in modern times as a force for good in the world.

When a country is hit with a severe earthquake, its people do not look first to France or Germany -- let alone to Russia or China --...