WOW! Awesome post Arf!
Maybe the most insightful post of yours I've read, and admitedly I haven't read any more than 10% of them (hey, you're a prolific poster).
On your comment "A completely unified message ain't American...", Bill Clinton made a very insightful comment recently. I'll paraphrase, "Even if everyone in government agreed on what the best course of action should be taken to solve all of our national and international problems, there would still be a gap between the way things are and the way things ought to be..." Profound insight. Humans can't control the universe, and human perfection is unattainable, thus unimitity in government is no solution. In fact when everyone in power walks in step it makes mistakes even worse.