they will be united on that front. China is not quadrupling its spending on its military while we reduce ours for fun. Anonymous, you did not understand my comment I am afraid. I am not comparing France and US, nor their proper economic or politic systems. I am talking about how the 'mind of the masses' is working. This field of science is called sociology. In a specific society people have reactions. Those reactions are derived from a context. This is all I am talking about. @Sandrine: I agree that history moves in cycles and it's never too late. It's usually takes something pretty dire for society to learn it's lesson and to turn the other direction. We're obviously not there yet. But I disagree that this not a major blow for liberty. Whatever Romneys views on aborton and gay marriage, this is not what he campaigned on and not what he stood for. The battle for personal freedom around these issues is already largely won, they're not under threat. What is under threat is the free market economy that makes us prosperous. The critical issues of the day are intrusion of gov't into the economy and expenditure at unsustainable levels. Whatever Romney's flaws and his lack of sound principles, he represented the self made successful entrepreneur, and combined with Ryan (influenced by Ayn Rand), gave every indication they were going to put a limit on, and perhaps even start to turn the back the tide on the ever-expanding welfare