I'm saddened to see this level of ire - especially here. I expect it in OT.

I've enjoyed our discussions, and Conrad has always struck me as a highly intelligent individual, courteous and broad-minded. I daresay most of us here are intelligent and posessed of reasonably open minds; elsewise, why would we ever enjoy such pastimes as debating the Pirenne thesis and discussing recycling solutions in the same place? It takes a peculiar sort of person to come here for a visit and decide to stay.

This is why I'd like to restate a call for positive action.

In practice, governing is done by those that wish to do it. Power does not merely corrupt; it attracts the corruptible - and even such revered figures as George Washington and Alexander Hamilton were not immune. Theodore Roosevelt, champion of political reform, advanced to power through the workings of a political machine.

I wish again to encourage people to help change the world. I believe it can happen; I've seen it happen before.

You here ARE the intellectual elite. You have the ability to make the world around yourselves better - and yes, education is one path to this. There are others; if the human race falls short of our expectations and desires, it should be remembered that the human race can change. Fiat money and stock companies changed us. Triangular sails changed us. The light bulb changed us. The first World War changed us. The aeroplane changed us. Literacy changed us. Television and the internet are changing us.

You can change us.

I hope you do a good job. I'll help if I can.