..."step in the right direction", you say, Al. Trouble is, no one can ever be quite sure which direction a step is going to take. Even the abolition of slavery carried some disagreeable FX for the freed, as we all know ~~ disoriented ex-slaves turned out on their own resources; KKK; persistence of Southern attitudes up to & beyond Luther King & Rosa Parkes, leading to lynch-law &c. I am not saying slavery shouldn't have been abolished: it should never have existed in the first place; so when it came to 1865, they could only start from where they were. & not all the effects were benign. One must always allow for the law of Unforeseen Consequences, mustn't one? & do you really think royalty the same sort of abuse as slavery which should never have existed? Oh, come now... The ones who want abolishing are the ones living in tax havens with 95%, or whatever it is, of the country's wealth, who I agree with you really are an abuse. Tho it occurs to me to wonder who, in your ideal society, is going to be able to buy the Turner collection, all at once or piece by piece, when we do sell it!

~M~