[Poison Pill]

“the rulers” operate on one playing field, and the rest of us - - “the ruled” - - operate on a separate, more lowly, more enslaved playing field.

An excellent article. But I would submit there is a third playing field. The one occupied by the deadbeat taxeaters. They contribute nothing but the ever present threat to riot if the goodies given by "the ruled" ever dry up. They are the muscle for the elites.

[ClearCase_guy]

I think we fall like the old Roman Republic fell. Bread and circuses to keep people happy. Two political parties fighting over what style of control will dominate. And a great mass of people to exploit as street-level muscle -- people who will never really benefit, but who can be exploited without knowing that they are pawns.

I've come to believe that our system is pretty much a big political machine, active world-wide. It works precisely as intended and benefits exactly whom it is intended to benefit. I think this has been true for a long, long time. And I also think that the machine may -- just possibly -- be breaking down.