What Kind Of People Do We Wish

What Kind Of People Do We Wish To Become, And How Do We Know An American When We See One? Is It Possible To Pursue A Common Purpose Without A Common History Or A Standard Text?

Usually When I Drank Too Much, I Could Guess Why I Did So, The Objective Being To Murder A State Of Consciousness That I Didn't Have The Courage To Sustain--a Fear Of Heights, Which Sometimes During The Carnival Of The 1960s Accompanied My Attempts To Transform The Bourgeois Journalist Into An Avant-garde Novelist. The Stepped-up Ambition Was A Commonplace Among The Would-be William Faulkners Of My Generation; Nearly Always It Resulted In Commercial Failure And Literary Embarrassment.

Among All The Emotions, The Rich Have The Least Talent For Love. It Is Possible To Love One's Dog, Dress Or Duck-shooting Hat, But A Human Being Presents A More Difficult Problem. The Rich Might Wish To Experience Feelings Of Affection, But It Is Almost Impossible To Chip Away The Enamel Of Their Narcissism. They Take Up All The Space In All The Mirrors In The House. Their Children, Who Represent The Most Present And Therefore The Most Annoying Claim On Their Attention, Usually Receive The Brunt Of Their Irritation.

I Sometimes Think That The American Story Is The One About The Reading Of The Will.

The Supply Of Government Exceeds Demand.