Rita Mae Brown:

America contains strange contradictions.  One is that we worship the Declaration of Independence but blanch at the thought of certain Americans being independent.  Another is that we pride ourselves on being a democracy but we create few safe public places where people can practice the mixing that is so important to democracy.  Europe abounds in beautiful public squares where people promenade, eat, talk politics and flirt.  By contrast, the American, hermetically sealed in her/his car, drives home.

Rita Will, p. 225