Over there, over here.

".... our willingness to believe in ourselves and to believe in our capacity to perform great deeds, to believe that together with God's help we can and will resolve the problems which now confront us. And after all, why shouldn't we believe that? We are Americans."
Ronald Reagan.

It's impossible to imagine those words spoken by a British statesman, with the word "Americans" swapped for "British". And I'd be willing to bet that the two most frequently used words in this year's Presidential Candidates' speeches were, "America" and "Americans" and that they occur many times more often than "Britain" and "British" fall from our own leaders' lips.

America, as pure concept, exists in the minds of its citizens in a way that we can barely fathom. The notion of a society dedicated to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness is embedded in their consciousness so indelibly that it can be invoked any time and guaranteed to resonate with any audience. To the Right, it signifies self-reliance, independence, opportunity - the Left emphasises the use of the nation's strength to provide prosperity and safety for all. When things go wrong, each will accuse the other of betraying the concept - never suggesting that the concept itself is flawed.

Indeed, there can never have been a time when the opposing tickets have included such conflicting yet representative archetypes of the dream as now - with Palin and Obama standing at each end of the spectrum yet equal in their ability to appeal to deep yearnings in the minds of their constituencies. It's like watching Dolly Parton and Bob Dylan in a run-off for the best vocalist - there's no possibility of one set of fans voting for the other's favourite.

Nor can we over here share in the dynamics of the contest without being somewhat aghast at its level of polarisation. We're almost forced into support for Obama on the grounds that he's the nearest thing to what we're used to seeing as a politician here - someone who's trodden the familiar path from activism to party prominence. But I cannot think of any scenario for a Sarah Palin to emerge, fully formed as right-wing pinup complete with lifestyle, family accoutrements and political background. It's not just that there's no British equivalent of her - neither is there any stereotype I can think of, who could be summoned up from anywhere in the Shires or suburbs, who could similarly embody our own sense of nationhood and destiny.

Because, unfortunately, we no longer possess one. We have no ideals left to which we can be asked to aspire to on an inherently, almost subconscious, level. Our idea of Britishness is rooted in the notion of history and a sense of belonging by birthright to a superior tribe - it's not one which can easily be extended to incomers. Much as we might be uncomfortable with this fact, and wish to reinvent it, Britishness is not like Americanism - not something that exists above the mundane workings of the State, that can be collected on production of a Pass Certificate in a citizenship test.

What we lack, here, is the ability to promote some higher ideal which, by galvanising the whole of society into a true and active aspiration to better itself would, at a stroke, remove much of the effect of the drag-anchor that holds Britain back. Our politics have reached a stage where each of the parties is trying to appeal on almost identical grounds to identical constituencies, with only the most subliminal of nods towards satisfying the conflicting desires of rich and poor, haves and have-nots, workers and shirkers. Yet despite the decline of ideological differences, we don't have a common set of definable goals. We've thrown out our Land of Hope and Glory and can't find its successor.