It is a dark and stormy night whenever the city council of my town meets. The Mayor, a matronly old biddy, likes power as much as she likes Orange filled pastry. The Deputy Mayor, an old geezer with more war stories than a Navy cook should have, has his own personal agenda about how to regulate the private lawns of the whole community.
The rest of the city council are comprised of either "Little Hitlers", bent on there own Fourth Reich, or the obedient lackeys of some public or private interest such as the Teachers Assn., the Public Employees Union and the local Real Estate Board. The satisfactions lacking in their personal lives are going to be pursued in the guise of public service at the expense of public liberty and the public purse.
De Tocqueville was was piercingly prescient.
Good morning America, how are you?
Regards, Buck.
The local 'councils of power' will receive a BIG wake up call when [& if] the money spigot turns off.
These hometown power parasites can only operate when the good times roll.
Course, a national depression breeds FDR's. Can't win, I guess.