[austinTparty]

Now you've made me feel guilty. I bought "De La Democratie en Amérique" with such good intentions of reading the original version. *sigh* I will definitely get it back out of the box and re-start...

Frankly, I find it somewhat reassuring to see through de Tocqueville's observations that "plus ça change..." (the more things change...) People are always predicting America's demise because of
breakdowns" or "coarsening" in our culture. Well, to paraphrase another author (and the one who wrote the other book you mention, of course!) "Reports of America's demise are greatly exaggerated".

[nicollo]

You nailed flat the largest emotion I bring home:

"plus ça change..."

Indeed, as Osama learned (his final thought) and Saddam shall re-learn once and for all,

"Reports of America's demise are greatly exaggerated".

God bless America!