Today, Much Of Journalism And Politics Are

Forty Is ... An Age At Which People Have Histories And Options. At Thirty, They Had Perhaps Less History. At Fifty, Perhaps Fewer Options.

All In All, I Am Not Surprised That The People Who Want To Unravel The Social Contract Start With Young Adults. Those Who Are Urged To Feel Afraid, Very Afraid, Have Both The Greatest Sense Of Independence And The Most Finely Honed Skepticism About Government.

The Average Parent May, For Example, Plant An Artist Or Fertilize A Ballet Dancer And End Up With A Certified Public Accountant. We Cannot Train Children Along Chicken Wire To Make Them Grow In The Right Direction. Tying Them To Stakes Is Frowned Upon, Even In Massachusetts.

There Is So Much More Information About The Scientific World Than There Was A Generation Ago That We Have All Increased Our Opportunities For Ignorance. There Are More Things Not To Know. ... The Machinery That We Deal With Is So Much More Complex That It Is Possible To Become Dysfunctional At A Much Higher Level Of Performance.

When Speech Is Divorced From Speaker And Word From Meaning, What Is Left Is Just Ritual, Language As Ritual.