I think you both, Heraclid and Joe, have made some extremely valid points about this direction of this nation. My question is, outside of trying to affect our own little corner of the world, what can be done to stop the snowball effect? It seems to me that way too many of the people who make the decisions in this country are fat cats who are way too content to give up their short sighted greedy goals because they've lost the ability to understand the long term consequences of their actions. My fear is that those who have the forsight to see the direction we are headed are in a small minority and don't have the financial or political power to reverse the trends. Am I just a pessimist?