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PLATFORM : America’s Ideal

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<i> IRA E. YELLIN, outgoing president of the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Jewish Committee, talked at the chapter's annual dinner of American values. Here are excerpts: </i>

This is a time when everyone seems more committed to defining and defending themselves as part of a group, rather than as a participant in an evolving but common culture.

Our concern must be that America remains a united people and does not become a Balkanized society with all the legacies that flow from that condition.

What remains unique about America, unique among all nations, is that, however imperfectly realized, America’s ideal remains an ideal of tolerance, of accepting diversity and of reconciliation, rather than separation between people--an ideal still worth fighting for.

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