All of Greece knew Homer deeply, and Homer gave Greece its sensibilities and its aspirations. All of its religious ideas were either drawn from Homer or formed against him.

When you appreciate that every American imagines herself a dissident, and that the only way to be elected in America is to play the dissident convincingly;

when you acknowledge the roles that intuition, charisma, and individual destiny play in our homegrown spiritualities;

when you see that our common tradition is transmitted not by word but by spectacle:

you will understand that America’s Homer is George Lucas.