Dear Sam & David,
The HBO series The Sopranos was educational entertainment of the first order. I say this because Tony Soprano was not a sociopath but a Prince in the traditional mold, as in The Prince by Machiavelli. Tony was a character who wielded absolute power and was corrupted accordingly. And what we saw with Tony and his counselors, interacting with their Mafia colleagues in New Jersey, New York and Naples, along with various political entities, was very much the process by which humanity has been governed through most of our history -- minus the flags, trumpets, drums, and other parade paraphernalia.
In the United States since 1776 we have been trying to break the traditional government process mold. And we have made a lot of progress despite our many failures and setbacks. Our first Civil War was a period of agony that we had to go through to resolve differences. Now, we have arrived at a new set of impasses which stymie our ability to govern ourselves. But we are about to emerge on the other side of our second civil war. The good news is that an election is going to serve for a resolution this time. For more on this please see this review of the book:
"The Second Civil War" by Ronald Brownstein < http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11... >
With more here: < http://www.amazon.com/Second-C... >
And for anyone who votes in the 6th VA Congressional district, we even have a candidate for Congress who will help with what I think of as our upcoming second reconstruction period: < http://www.samrasoul.us/index.... >
{Oh, both Jesus and Gandhi will be pleased with the changes, as well.}
John R. Cole