Has it somehow escaped House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the authors and supporters of this bill that hundreds of thousands of Americans gave their last full measure of devotion in the American Civil War to preserve a nation dedicated to liberty and equality among all men and women, regardless of race?

The Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act would not only create a race-based government in Hawaii, but also its racial jurisdiction could extend to include governance over the thousands of native Hawaiians living throughout the United States. State legislatures in all 50 states may potentially be required to accommodate two tiers of sovereignty -- one for native Hawaiians, another for everybody else.

The Senate should reject this misguided bill. If it doesn't, the President should veto it. And all presidential candidates should affirm, by their opposition to this legislation, that America is more than a collection of competing, aggrieved ethnicities.

By their opposition to this bill, all men and women who lead -- or seek to lead -- this nation should affirm that the motto found on the Great Seal of the United States -- "E Pluribus Unum" -- still stands:

Out of Many, One.

Newt Gingrich is the former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. This paragraph first appeared the first week of December in Gingrich's weekly newsletter and has been republished widely through syndication and on numerous blogs.  Gingrich added the paragraph to his newsletter after speaking with a GRIH member about the Akaka bill.