'Bad luck'

“Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.

This is known as "bad luck.” ―Robert Heinlein

I think about this quote every once in a while. I read it sometime in the late 80's when I was young and impressionable. Possibly I circled it on the page, meaning to remember it, possibly memorize it and recite it at the opportune time during a debate. I am so thankful that I happened upon the books of Robert Heinlein back then. I was a voracious reader, and Science Fiction was my addiction. Back then it was not as fashionable as the genre is today. One of the things I gleaned from Heinlein's novels was that it's very possible that society will tend to pull down those who stand out in the crowd. Those who see what others cannot see and who attempt to put that vision to the test. Some react by saying it can't be done, shouldn't be done, "Stop that man!"

It is this mentality that turns a thriving growing civilization into a corrupt, bankrupt, disintegrating mess. Then they blame others for what they have wrought.

Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, all crime ridden, murder capitals, under democrat control for years. When does the magic start? When does the utopia materialize?