And how true it is. The first initial reaction to any serious consideration of theoretical analysis is an adolescent confidence against making a fuss where there is no need for one. This is usually followed by a corny joke and thumbing one's nose at the pressure that seriousness brings. But hey! This is America. Chill out.The deepest intellectual weakiness of democracy is its lack of taste or gift for the theoretical life. All our Nobel prizes and the like do nothing to gainsay Tocqueville's appraisal in this regard. The issue is not whether we possess intelligence but whether we are adept at reflection fo the broadest and deepest kind. We need constant reminders of our deficiency, now more than in the past. --Allan Bloom The Closing of the American Mind. How Higher Education has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today's Students