At one time in our nation’s history, when people cared about symbols and archetypes, there existed a particularly popular symbol of a woman named Columbia. She was the female personification of the United States, much as Uncle Sam was to be the male face of the nation. She was the warrior-goddess, the seeker of truth, defender of virtues, and exemplar of all that was noble. It was she that the space shuttle Columbia was named after, the ill-fated ship that broke apart as it came back to earth a few years ago. In his eulogy of those who died on that day, President Bush said, “Columbia is lost; there are no survivors”. Sadly, today that same thing may be said about the United States, our Columbia.