News that the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation selected Natchez-Adams County for a new health initiative is great.

However, the news had a 50-50 chance of causing a smirk or a raised eyebrow on your face.

That gut reaction — based solely on the political names attached to the news — illustrates just how divided America is.

Political party trumps common sense.

In the days and weeks following the 9/11 attacks, our country was not a country of parties, but a country of patriots.

Why is it, however, when another attacker, one far less stealthy, but equally deadly enters our country, we ignore the matter and cannot join forces to battle?

The enemy we are referring to is our own health. Let’s face it: The majority of Americans are simply unhealthy.

We’re addicted to sugar and fattening foods, and we don’t like to exercise.

The result is we are a country with rampant diabetes and heart disease.

But yet when a seemingly harmless — and likely helpful — program comes to offer help, many of us are more focused on the name at the top of the letterhead than the potential result to our bottoms and waistlines.

The battle for America’s health is too serious for us all not to join forces, eliminate anything that divides us — political party or socio-economic status — and focus on solutions to make America healthy again.