CIVIC    The previous mayor was a tyrant. The only reason he was in office was because he literally bought the black vote. Fifty cash dollars to everyone who voted for him and a big turkey dinner for their families. Yet if you had asked them if he had lifted a finger to do anything for them after that... once he was in office... could they have answered and answered TRUTHFULLY? Probably not. But he had been in office for a long time and was old. Several months before the next election, he died and a good deal of the small county citizens could not honestly say that they would miss him. They voted in his replacement of the Democratic party and they voted in yet another tyrant; a foolish man with little to no CIVIC-mindedness. His Republican opponent was too young. "Negative", they said and they could see right through his campaign. There was still another who ran as independent to avoid the primaries. He received less than 10% of the total county votes for mayor and, in truth, would likely have made the biggest difference in the long run.    Money blinds. Power overshadows everything else. The here and now takes precedence in people's minds and it's too late to turn back when they realize their mistake (if, indeed, they realize it at all). Good cities and towns choke and die. Jobs dissipate. The government has been, is and will always continue to be corrupt. And most of all, politics suck. Long live democracy.

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