[dd74]

I think deTocqueville pretty much covered the impossibility of pure democracry vis-a-vis higher-form socialism existing in today's society because Utopia was unobtainable. Things were already in place to lead to an exploitation of the masses, so hence his vision was a pipe dream, to which he pretty much admitted.

CJ - woo Isabel with passages from DH Lawrence, particularly "Lady Chatterley's Lover" and I guarantee she'll load the Kalishnikovs with blanks.

As far as education goes - I think we're caught between a rock and a hard place: the public schools are obviously not up to snuff, which makes the private schools a necessary evil. However, because parents are used to excepting less (L.A. schools have been in a talespin since Prop. 13 passed, which was '77, I think, and thus the kids then are now having their own kids, making sub-par public school education almost "learned" or expected), the private schools are also delivering less. It's a horrible Catch 22, at least here in L.A.