Cracks In Our Culture

Bush then, for possibly the first time, shared an anecdote from Evans that he would return to repeatedly in the years ahead: Evans maintained that fixing America's societal problems was like fixing a cracked wall. When Evans spotted a crack in one of his walls, he called a painter, who promptly plastered and painted over the line— only to watch it reemerge a few weeks later with yet more zigzags. Evans called in a better painter, but this painter told him, "Sir, the crack on your wall is not the problem. That's just an ugly symptom. Your problem is that you have a shifting foundation. Fix the foundation first, and you will solve the cracks on your wall." To Evans, and to Bush, this was a parable for American society: "We have serious cracks in our culture that no amount of plaster will fix," observed Bush, "unless we shore up our moral foundation."

SOURCE God & George W Bush P.33 (As Governor of Texas Speech at the Dedication of the Power Center’s Jesse H James Ballroom Houston July 8, 1997