Posted 11:17 AM by Floyd

One of USS Clueless blogger Steven Den Beste's consistent themes is that Americans are "Jacksonians," and Europeans are not:

I think that Europeans don't realize that Americans are a plain speaking people, not given to easy hypocrisy. And in particular, for the Jacksonian core the idea of honor is a strong one. Jacksonians do not abide trash-talk. Mead says:

Jacksonian honor must be acknowledged by the outside world. One is entitled to, and demands, the appropriate respect: recognition of rights and just claims, acknowledgment of one’s personal dignity. Many Americans will still fight, sometimes with weapons, when they feel they have not been treated with the proper respect. But even among the less violent, Americans stand on their dignity and rights.

Yesterday I was wandering around with Evan Kirchhoff in his San Francisco neighborhood of Pacific Heights.
How interesting it was to discover that the official residence of the French consul is on Jackson Street!

(Update: And how interesting it was to discover, by email from Evan, that the consulate is on Bush Street!)