It has been my experience that contrary to this quote of de Tocqueville (And I believe he says something akin to my remarks elsewhere) Americans are by far the most conformist people I have ever met. I have very, very rarely met anyone in America who I would consider an individual -- a person who has his or her own opinions, is self-sufficient in many ways, and has a decent regard for other human beings. I have met more such people in parts of Africa. Americans are saturated in massive propaganda, which pervades their mythologies. This extends to their versions of individualism, which are extraordinarily narrow-minded, and borrowed, as far as I can tell, from propaganda about how "The West Was Won" (virtually all of which is a total lie), and Ayn Rand.

yours,

Peter T.