They added that the social impact of khat has kept men away from work and led to the disintegration of families and local communities.

BBC: Somalis urge government to ban khat

How, ask the intellectuals, can a state which elects as its senior senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan urbane, intellectual (think of his 1965 essay on the disintegration of black families) and socially adept (witness his years as ambassador to India and then the United Nations) also choose Al D'Amato, with his Archie Bunker style of political behaviour?

ECONOMIST: Senator Pothole

The way to guarantee more minority students at the top universities in the future, conservatives argue, is to address the twin pillars of social disintegration: broken schools and broken families.

ECONOMIST: Affirmative action