By sending the contradictory message that the famous are just plain folks on Mount Olympus, America has forged a relentless tension between loftiness and accessibility. Stir in the fact that the inborn talent and intelligence needed to achieve fame are immune to distributive tinkering by government programs and you have a definition of fame certain to produce envious rage: somebody screwed democracy.

God may have loved the common people, but a trip to any shopping mall suggests that He made far too many of them.

Episcopalians have always preferred the flying buttress to the pillar of the church.

Men are not very good at loving, but they are experts at admiring and respecting; the woman who goes after their admiration and respect will often come out better than she who goes out after their love.

Owning your own home is America's unique recipe for avoiding revolution and promoting pseudo-equality at the same time.

Why do I hate people? Who else is there to hate?

Golf is an exercise in Scottish pointlessness for people who are no longer able to throw telephone poles at each other.