The better to understand US politics

Sir, The nomination of Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate has been so far a cataclysmic event and most likely caught the Obama campaign by surprise. Such developments may be difficult to understand to non-Americans. They bring out some of the key characteristics that make American electoral politics unique.

The notion that settling the Great Plains and territories (including Alaska) was a heroic development is what makes US politics different from that of western Europe, the other great democracy born from the Enlightment. A political party that forgets this deep sentiment cannot win a presidential election. The reason is that a majority of the voters still believes that America is a dream more than a political system, an inherently incomplete dream, which shouldn't be "legislated" but instead lived. source>>>

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