It is extraordinary how extraordinary the ordinary person is.

Pessimism is as American as apple pie - frozen apple pie with a slice of processed cheese.

All children find chaos congenial. Any unruliness, even by nature, advances the child's program of subverting authority.

As has been said, standards are always out of date - that is why we call them standards.

The unpleasant sound Bush is emitting as he traipses from one conservative gathering to another is a thin, tinny "arf" - the sound of a lap dog.

Republicans, supposed defenders of limited government, actually are enablers of an unlimited presidency. Their belief in strict construction of the Constitution evaporates, and they become, in behavior if not in thought, adherents of the woolly idea of a 'living Constitution.' They endorse, by their passivity, the idea that new threats justify ignoring the Framers' text and logic about shared responsibility for war-making.

If you seek Hamilton's monument, look around. You are living in it. We honor Jefferson, but live in Hamilton's country, a mighty industrial nation with a strong central government.