In The Garden Of Tabloid Delight, There

What Kind Of People Do We Wish To Become, And How Do We Know An American When We See One? Is It Possible To Pursue A Common Purpose Without A Common History Or A Standard Text?

Nobody Suffers The Pain Of Birth Or The Anguish Of Loving A Child In Order For Presidents To Make Wars, For Governments To Feed On The Substance Of Their People, For Insurance Companies To Cheat The Young And Rob The Old.

The Practice Of Our Democracy Depends On A Sense Of, And Knowledge Of, History In The Same Way That Playing In The World Series Requires A Bat And A Ball.

Unlike Every Other Nation In The World, The United States Defines Itself As A Hypothesis And Constitutes Itself As An Argument.

Talk About The Flag Or Drugs Or Crime (never About Race Or Class Or Justice) And Follow The Yellow Brick Road To The Wonderful Land Of Consensus. In Place Of Honest Argument Among Consenting Adults The Politicians Substitute A Lullaby For Frightened Children: The Pretense That Conflict Doesn't Really Exist, That We Have Achieved The Blessed State In Which We No Longer Need Politics.