Bickering is another gift that the French gave America. The Anglo-Saxon Federalists did not brook dissent; it was the pro-French Jeffersonians that gave the American political system a much needed enema, where dissent becomes the highest form of patriotism.
   World War One was, not to be too argumentative, nothing like its sequel. Both were horrendous, but "The Great War" in its own way. My great uncle Herbert was gassed during a battle between the AEF and the Germans in France, in 1918. He was always a pacifist after that - I guess having to sleep sitting up does that to you. He always believed that people should solve their problems in a peaceful manner.
   My father served in the Marine Corps in World War Two. Totally disgusted by the appalling spectacle of the Vietnam War, he left specific instructions to not allow the American flag to be draped over his coffin, as was his privilege - either way you look at it - earned by his service to his country.
   They were both right: World War One led to a second global war, and we haven't known peace since 1945 . . .