Do We find in America, a Nation of Pride?

  Divisions come with pride. Society breaks apart when it bickers. We can see we are a divided nation, but we have not perceived it is because of our pride.
  Look around: The Democrats feel they are too good for the Republicans and the Republicans feel they are too good for the Democrats. What is this if not pride? If you look down your nose at the other person, is that not pride?
  Calling another person an idiot, and a fool, is that not but a way of expressing that you are better than the other person? It is the prideful person that puts another person down, not the humble.
   You must wonder then, if there was ever a nation of pride, are we not just about it? So much bickering and nitpicking is only going to happen when people think they are better than those they accuse.
  The destruction of a nation comes with the pride of its people. Those who follow scripture know of the warnings. "Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall," Proverb 16:18 tells us. Those who are of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints read a book called The Book of Mormon and sometimes suggest pride led to the downfall of people written about in that book.
   Yet, I do not think they see in themselves the very manifestation of pride that they seek to avoid. By nature, pride does not admit it is wrong. So, it would not be easy to persuade our nation of what it has become.
   A nation of pride. A nation of haughty spirits. A nation of reviling one against another.
  With pride comes division, and with division comes destruction. Whether the division ferments all the way to war, it intoxicates, just the same. Those who bicker, search for reason to bicker. They relish opportunity to fight and condemn. They seek out faults in others and embellish them. They lust after the faults of others. They are intoxicated, reeling to and fro in their anger with each other. They are blinded by their own hatred, not even able to see that their hearts are full of hatred for each other and that they are full of pride.
   America should ask if it has become this -- if what I see really applies. Are we a nation of pride? Is it not reflected in the way we put each other down? We put down those of the other party. Do we do so too much? We put down those in our government. Governments will always have reason for scrutiny, but does our criticism come too quickly and does it go too far? Do we think ourselves better than those who lead us? Is there not some pride in such an attitude?
   How far carries our pride, and will it carry us to a destruction quicker than a lack of guns?

(Note: Lightly edited 3/18/19)