Fed and electoral college could use some tinkering, but they are not the source of the problems.

From the late 1940s, into and through the '50s, there developed a complex interaction between federal government, state and local government, real-estate interests, commercial interests and court decisions, which had the effect of undermining the mass transit system across the country.

Nobody should have any illusions. The United States has essentially a one-party system and the ruling party is the business party.

If kids are studying for a test, they're not going to learn anything. We all know that from our own experience.

I think religion has often played a very positive role. Take western civilization, the Catholic Church has played an honorable role in helping those in need. In contrast, the US carried out a virtual war against the church in central America in the 1980's primarily because prime elements in the church were working with great courage and honor to help those in need. And to organize them to help themselves.

UG [universal grammar] may be regarded as a characterization of the genetically determined language faculty. One may think of thisfaculty as a 'language acquisition device,' an innate component of the human mind that yields a particular language through interaction with present experience, a device that converts experience into a system of knowledge attained: knowledge of one or another language.

In my experience at least, the large public universities do not fall behind in fostering creativity and independence; often the contrary.