I read thru your post @quillfire, and then was so intrigued, I felt compelled to read through all of the comments as well. I must say that I loved your poem; it is so well written, with extraordinarily appropriate word choice, tone and multi-layered semantics. My brain was going in a million different directions by the time I was finished.
I too, " When I listen to the hyperbole and vitriol of modern political discourse, [ I] feel a sense of foreboding. Often "money" or "greed" become the scapegoats for conflict, but in the end, I think the problem often boils down to intolerance of others...political views, religion, sexuality etc. But I guess not simply intolerance, but the need to expect others to change to coincide with what was at one time, a popular viewpoint. The US has obviously changed over the years, but maybe not so much after all. Sure it was a country where immigrants were welcomed; but was it really? It doesn't take too much searching to find many examples of inequity in history. Like you stated somewhere in these comments, "steel sharpens steel", but that seems to be an ideal at best, and definitely an idea that, for a million reasons, can't or won't be adopted there. And I think in the end, that is a huge disservice to the country as a whole; the idea that two opposing beliefs cannot only coincide, but can together create something new and amazing, or at the very least, simply agree to disagree.
Like you stated in the comments "The United States is the only country in human history founded not upon the realities of geography or culture or language ... but rather, upon ideas, ideals and insights." When the makeup of population as a whole continues to change and be all-inclusive(supposedly), but the expectation of the original "ideas, ideals and insights" remains the same, then conflict naturally occurs, with unfortunately no conclusion or remedy in sight.
Thank you so much for a thought provoking post here; I thoroughly enjoyed it!