Dear Anne,

Just a note to let you know that Dan and you are very much on my mind these 
days and that I hope Dan is recovering satisfactorily. I've been reading
Montesquieu's L'Esprit des Lois, a book which has been seeding my thoughts
with naughty ideas which I promise not to let get into the argument.
I'm trying to put my mind to other uses, but I don't know whether I can.

I hope that it won't take you too long to recover from the election. I've
been there, seen it all, survived (miraculously) to the point where I can
now devote my energy to the legal defense of my Nantucket plumbing. I learn 
from Montequieu (although he doesn't see it that way) that despotism is the 
primary social relationship from which fragile constitutional government 
may arise, but always only transiently, and never to endure.  

Jochen