Seattle is giving up on the automated public toilet, with city officials saying they've become too filthy, crime-ridden and vandal-prone to work. You might say that's not the most critical policy issue out there, but this story speaks to a real public concern.

"Other cities around the world seem to be able to handle toilets civilly," one city councilman said, and "civilly" may be the key word here. One of the consistent themes we've run into in our opinion research is that people think their fellow Americans are increasingly rude, disrespectful and inconsiderate, and it bothers them. A lot.