FM> KK> Some 15 years ago or so, I recall reading an article in what was then
FM> KK> the CoEvolution Quarterly, now the Whole Earth Review. The basic 
thesis
FM> KK> was that we Americans (and other British colonies) do not get our
FM> KK> political system from the Greeks and Romans; rather we get our system
FM> KK> from the Vikings.
FM>   I'm afraid I can't shed much light on this because even such recent 
histor
FM>must certainly be subject to frequent discoveries.  It is certainly not 
likel
FM>that the assumptions about American history and motives that were drilled 
int
FM>us as school boys and girls have much besides mythical value.
Aye, and there's the rub.  Going off on a tangent, we now know that
kids are not really capable of thinking about things in other than
primitive good/bad right/wrong ways, yet we form our basic character
at that age.  That's why so many kids' movies (like Jurassic Park)
seem so simplistic to adults.
The article I mentioned above wasn't really talking about political
systems as intellectual inventions, but rather it was talking about
the underlying political culture of various peoples -- something
we aren't even consciously aware of.  The Scandinavian peoples were
a holy terror 1000 years ago, but they haven't given the world much
trouble lately.  The article suggested that our parliamentary system
is unconsciously based on an underlying culture in which people would
select a representative, and the reps would get together and haggle
things out, and everybody would work together to implement the
decision.
 * SLMR 2.1a * .        Brevity is the sole of wit. -- Wm. Tagspeare
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