The mood in America is bitter.

Hyper-partisanship has sabotaged governance and government. Extremes of left and right have infected politics and turned citizens against each other on virtually every issue. Anger and resentment now inform what passes for political dialogue.

How did the U.S. arrive at a condition where more than 70 percent of the public does not want either of the two likely presidential candidates on the ballot? About the same number are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the state of the nation.

The answer rests in two wars that broke America.

The first was Vietnam. Sixty years ago this August, Congress passed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution with only two dissenting votes that committed the nation to war. At that point, more Americans believed and trusted in the government and largely supported it.

That figure has reversed since the Vietnam War. Both Democratic and Republican administrations lied about the war beginning with the Tonkin Gulf crisis, in which North Vietnamese boats did not attack two U.S. Navy destroyers operating in international waters, as had been alleged.

The fall........

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