July 31, 2006: Highland Park

This was a much-needed day of rest for us. I blogged for the first time in a week, Debbie read and napped, and the boys played with each other. David and Melanie both did some work, and their kids went to camp.

We had lunch with Melanie, who talked about her father’s illness and the stresses it’s imposing on her and her family. After lunch, Debbie and Melanie took the boys to the local pool.

Jesse and Sophia came home shortly before our boys did, whereupon Danny rehearsed on guitar and Jesse on the piano. Both have been playing for less than a year and are doing remarkably well.

Tommy read the first volume in a fantasy series called Secrets of Dripping Fang, by Dan Greenburg, while Sophia showed us two more princess dresses. She danced around and posed like a pro.

It wasn't long before all of the kids decided to go outside, where they roughhoused until dinner. Sophia revealed she is less of a girly girl than I originally suspected when she leapt upon Tommy, princess dress and all, and started pounding on him (but not in earnest).



During the meal, we talked about our varied ancestries: Greek, Jewish, Polish, British, Irish, and so on. Our political discussions continued as well. David, ever the provocateur, expressed his view that the US is fundamentally an oligarchy rather than a democracy. Melanie demurred, asserting that our system is no less democratic than most other systems of government.

David posited that neither our two-party system nor the electoral college, originally designed to appease slave states (among its other objectives), presents real choices to the electorate or permits the formation of alternative political parties. Melanie and I countered that even parliamentary systems with multiple parties invariably form two opposing coalitions, liberal and conservative, and that compromise is inevitable.

I was reminded of a quotation attributed to Winston Churchill: "Democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others that have been tried."