I Love This Country, But The Union

To Be In Florence Is To Reflect On Europe's Intricate Diversity - And Its Lost Creativity.

Ordinary Americans, And Especially The Small Minority Active In Democrat And Republican Primaries, Must Learn More Of What People Across The Globe Are Thinking And Saying About The Us. For If You Follow That, You Realise That The Erosion Of American Power Is Happening Faster Than Most Of Us Predicted -- While The Politicians In Washington Behave Like Rutting Stags With Locked Antlers.

In A Democracy It Is Ultimately For Us, The Citizens, To Judge Where To Place The Balance Between Security And Privacy, Safety And Liberty. It's Our Lives And Liberties That Are Threatened, Not Only By Terrorism But Also By Massive Depredations Of Our Privacy In The Name Of Counter-terrorism. If Those Companies From Which Governments Actually Take Most Of Our Intimate Details Want To Show That They Are Still On The Side Of The Angels, They Had Better Join This Struggle For Transparency Too.

That Said, The Question Remains: How To Strike The Balance Between Free Speech And Mutual Respect In This Mixed-up World, Both Blessed And Cursed With Instant Communication? We Should Not Fight Fire With Fire, Threats With Threats.

The Eurozone Has Clearly Gone Spectacularly Wrong, Pulling Down All The Continental Economies.