[ScreamingViking]

We've been in a paradigm where the smallest voices may have the biggest impact. That's not a bad thing, often those voices have something very meaningful to say. But sometimes their needs are given more emphasis than what makes sense for everyone in the longer term.

We haven't achieved a great equilibrium in satisfying those interests with a balance against the greater "good."

I don't know that we ever will, for sure not while this conservative wave is apparently sweeping parts of the country (and perhaps THE country this fall). How that filters down to municipalities will be interesting to see. It may very well end up being a blunt "this is how things need to go" as upper levels of government dictate the same. Especially as the spending downloadings begin in earnest.