'Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be planted and replanted for too long a series of generations in the same worn-out soil. My children have had other birthplaces, and, so far as their fortunes may be within my control, shall strike their roots into unaccustomed earth.'—NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, The Scarlet Letter. 'The question which now interests people is, What are we going to do with democracy now that we have got it?