We found out Friday that the U.S. economy grew 3.4 percent in the second quarter. For macroeconomists, the number is a familiar one. The average annual rate of real growth in the U.S. gross domestic product from 1948 to the present was about 3.4 percent.

The U.S. is indisputably a great and thriving nation. The economy right now is about the same that it has always been, delivering growth and general well-being that is unrivaled in world history. And yet, judging by the mood of the country, Americans seem close to despair. Why?

``On Great and Small Parties,'' he wrote, as if about today, that ``America has had great parties, but they exist no longer.'' He continued: ``I cannot conceive a more wretched sight in the world than that presented by different coteries (they do not deserve the name of parties) which now divide the Union.'' It is, he said, ``a shame to see what coarse insults, what petty slanders and what impudent calumnies fill the papers that serve as their mouthpieces.''

All this would perhaps be a minor nuisance if some other party of greatness emerged, but Republicans have hardly been better. Did you find the impeachment of Bill Clinton distasteful? It had precedents. The parties of the early 1800s astonished Tocqueville ``with what unashamed disregard of all the social decencies they daily arraign before the tribunal of public opinion, the honor of families and the secrets of the domestic hearth.''

Our politicians mischaracterize their opponents' motivations and focus on their personal failings, because they themselves have given up the quest for greatness. They have been honed into cynical creatures by the sharp blades of their own parties. Their failings reflect on us all, turning Americans into an unhappy bunch, even in the face of prosperity.