Ulro, Jr., waxing philosophical as is his wont, has this to say about America, the Land Founded on Rational Politics.
And yet, how far have those principles penetrated, in two hundred years? Well, far enough that a nation composed largely of enthusiastic believers in psychic hotlines, horoscopes, UFOs and the literal truth of the King James Bible—a nuclear superpower of three hundred million that trumpets itself as being “at war” with a gang of about fifty knife-wielding thugs—still officially tolerates internal dissent. That’s something; really it is. The rational political structure created by a motley assembly of 18th century sons of Enlightenment continues to hold in key places, though the beast growls and rattles the bars of the cage.
That’s something of a comfort indeed.