This little post will not be well received.  So be it. Down through the eons of time, empires, dynasties and eminent civilizations, have achieved great heights, and then come down like the salmon leaves of autumn, brought low by the same troublesome human nature that has hobbled mankind since Cain cudgeled Abel. Learned philosophers and renowned historians have devoted their lives to the study of these events, producing ponderous, voluminous anthologies, which grace the shelves of celebrated centers of higher learning all over the world.  And today, when similar behavior threatens our own aspiring metropolis, we scratch our heads and wring our hands and wonder what the hell happened.  I feel tremendous empathy for people as individuals. As a species, I think we’re highly overrated. Some of you are aware of the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, and all variety of other revolutions, huge revolutions, small revolutions and tiny little revolutions which were never even recorded, because nobody survived to tell the tale. What caused all these catastrophes?  The answer is simple: greed. It’s a common and too often repeated cycle.  A small percentage of people accumulate unimaginable wealth, and this allows them to make the rules. Not surprisingly, they make more rules which allow them to accumulate more wealth. Eventually these people have accumulated most of the wealth and as a result they make most of the rules.  This cycle reaches a point where these people are so embarrassed by their wealth that they support social programs in order to keep other less fortunate people from starving. This downward spiral continues and eventually the wealthy and privileged classes reconcile themselves to their inexcusable wealth, and begin doing away with social programs in order to reduce their own taxes. This cycle continues to spiral out of control until eventually the impoverished masses take desperate steps in order to feed their starving children, heads roll and rivers of blood run through the streets. In our society today, we hold elections.  During these elections people have a choice.  They can vote for people who are aware of these devastating cycles and thus strive to prevent them, or they can vote for others whose campaigns are funded by the privileged class, who sit behind their mahogany desks, on their ever expanding posteriors, and lay others off, in order to cushion their own luxurious retirement.  Soon you will have your opportunity to vote.  Give this cycle some thought and vote accordingly.  SC