But your view of America as the Great Satan is just as far off (in the other direction) as Tom's vision ofthe USA as an exceptional, entrepreneurial paradise. The truth, as always, is somewhere in between.

America has much in its history to be ashamed of, but much to be proud of, too. We are a truly great civilization, and like all great civilizations, we have our crown jewels and our warts, too. We are the New Romans, just as the British Empire were the New Greeks, and our relationship to it is analogous to the Roman's debt and and continuation of Hellenic culture and civilization. And along with their enormous accomplishments, the Brits, Romans and Greeks had their warts too, plenty of them.

Overall, I believe America is no worse than anyone else, and probably better than most, and although I am sometimes fiercely critical of it, when the chips are down and I have to make a choice, that's where I'll go.

History is a tapestry, and there are both light and dark threads. The patterns are constantly changing and never clear, but I do believe that overall, we will be missed when we go. Rome had its problems, but it took almost a thousand years for the world to pick up the pieces after it fell.

The alternatives now on the horizon don't look particularly appealing to me.