a better distinction
I was talking to Deric the other day at the Owl Tree. I was going on and on about Americans this, Americans that, etc. Deric made the observation that one can talk about the majority of Americans, as this is a populist society, the majority actually do hold some high degree of power. Conversely, Europe has strongly admirable traits like cultural funding, public art, and so on which are the result of decisions made by a very few. This is not something that I didn't know, but somehow hearing it put succinctly made me feel a little more forgiving of the things that I dislike in this country.