When the president of the United States flicks the switch to light up the Christmas tree on the White House lawn, that house ceases to be an American symbol; it becomes a Christian symbol.

It's smart to be friends with one's sex partner but dumb to have sex with one's friends.

America is a nation fundamentally ambivalent about its children, often afraid of its children, and frequently punitive toward its children.

Friends can be said to "fall in like" with as profound a thud as romantic partners fall in love.

A family stitched together with love seldom unravels.

Boys don't make passes at female smart asses.

The ultra-right would have us believe that families are in trouble because of humanism, feminism, secular education, or sexual liberation, but the consensus of Americans is that what tears families apart is unemployment, inflation, and financial worries.