History has a habit of repeating itself like a belch after a heavy meal. Sometimes I feel/think there are regressive, pest-like forces at work, gnawing away at the fragile fruits of freedom and democracy that began to timidly but insistently bloom in certain orchards of the globe last century. Then I wonder if this is just me.

Today I got an email from a dear American friend of mine. A guy in his seventies, a hard-boiled old-school reporter from New Jersey, a dig-wise archaeologist, former university professor. A man of many trades, lots of travel, a cynical outlook. Someone I spent many a day arguing politics with.

Of Italian origins, he's now trying to find out if he's eligible to apply for Italian citizenship. This is what he has to say:

"I can no longer accept the changed values in the US. I cannot in good conscience accept the current political structure. I fear for the future of my children and grandchildren... Bush is almost certain to be re-elected and my sister (a 78-yr-old retired lawyer and law professor) along with myself and 10's of thousands of other Americans, are truly fearful of a Hitlerian dictatorship in the not too distant future. If I can become a citizen, my sister will go the same route, and her children and grand-children will follow. Strangely, all of them are well-off middle-class professionals. They all are wealthy or border on wealthy. At the same time, all of us are political liberals... My sister and brother-in-law have already been 'fichado' by the FBI for participating in anti-Iraq war rallies..."