The genius of the economic machine is in its ability to convert these indulgences into profitability. It converts desire into attention, a grip on our eyeballs and eardrums, which in turn can be marketed to advertisers.

A century of convulsive change leaves huge demographic gouge marks.

Some versions of patriotism come close to the tribal, which we all want to surpass, and some don’t.

Human inertia makes the everyday environment, the furniture, as it were, appear to be a given.

American movies and music deliver themes of freedom, innocence, and power that appeal to others - partly because America itself was put together out of a multiplicity of national traditions.

My business is the analytical framework.

There is a fuzzy but real distinction that can and I believe should be made, between patriotism, which is attachment to a way of life, and nationalism, which is the insistence that your way of life deserves to rule over other ways of life.