Is the reference to the rejection of Lisbon reference also based on that study?

That was just a passing observation on my part. I know that any specific issue, election, or personality depends on lots of factors besides any description of a societies values. The attractiveness of the personalities involved. Historical accident. Who has the better field/media/organizational structure (etc). Discipline. Reaction to recent history. (If all this sounds more like what matters most in US elections, it's because that is what I know best.)

Basically, I just had an "AHA!" moment when I saw where Ireland landed on the cultural map in relation to the rest of Europe. Would a differnet approach worked better during the Lisbon debate? I'm hardly the one to say, but I might seriously consider weighting my approach with this study in mind. If nothing else, it may test the validity and/or scope of the study's possible application.

That Jerome picked up on the lack of crowd reaction to Obama's saving "God's creation" phrasing was another "AHA!" moment.

For my part, the whole modernization leading toward democracy theory seems impractical anyways. I definitely don't buy the "democratic peace" theory either. (Democracies go to war as much as authoritarian or centralized states, but the almost never go to war against other democracies. I believe that if all the world were equally effective democracies, there would still be wars.)

Like Sergio Viera de Melo, I think it might make greater sense to emphasize, rather than democracy, enhancing individual dignity. That's something to think about, anyways.

"It Can't Be Just About Us"
--Frank Schnittger, ETian Extraordinaire