Mike - added to my reading queue - thanks!

Leadfingers - there is an incredible amount worth celebrating here. Read lots of American history- our leaders keep stepping in it, and somehow we pull through....hmmm, why might that be?

IntoThe Wild, I do overthink stuff - that's certainly a flaw - and it sometimes really shows in hastily-written essays sometimes (abashed).

But...pdkan, the point of the essay is that I don't - and I think most of us don't have the library of images, stories, and arguments that we need any more. I'm not in the culture-making business; what I hope is that the people in the culture-making business will start contributing to that library someday - soon.