Editor:

Roosevelt stated many decades ago that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. I would like to thing that if Roosevelt was alive today, he would have added to his famous quotation: and the next thing America has to fear are the American people them selves.

The true America is believed to be "conceived in liberty." It is also believed to be organized in such a way that all of its citizens can have the opportunity to try to achieve the American Dream originating with educated leadership, important resources a nd a sense of God-guided destiny.

Why is realization of the dream becoming difficult for many Americans? Why is the America I studied in high school, the America I have learned to love, becoming different from the America I am seeing today?

Without pretending to be an expert in "Americanology," I believe the answer is in the misinterpretation of the traditional morality.

I do have some concerns when I meet people who think that helping the poor is against the traditional morality that built America. By the same token, I have some worries when I see people who believe that the private sector has the solutions to all of the problems.

My biggest worry came when I saw the American politician playing politics with the future of their country. If America doesn't have the money, who has it? The greatness of this country is built on the ability of its people to forgive the past mistakes, to help the poor, to believe in individual responsibility, to accept the fact that there is an American family with good values and most importantly, to believe in America and in the American system.

The former Soviet Union went out of business not only because the West fought it for 50 years but also because the leaders of the USSR lost faith in their system. I hope the American leaders have that lesson in mind.

You have to be completely ignorant to forget the words "filibuster" and "presidential veto" when doing politics in this country. I hope the politicians in Washington will wake up and remember these two words one more time.

Seydou Coulebaly
PhD candidate range management