They are not for the participants, but for the people to come.

And neither are revolutions wanted by the revolutionaries, just as Unions are not wanted by the workers. Oppressive conditions create the conditions which necessitate either a revolution or a Union if the needs of the people are to be met.

Greed and arrogance, those handmaidens of power, drive people to protect themselves. That the revolutionaries are succeeded by people who forget their heritage and become greedy and arrogant themselves is obvious.

The US is headed that way, as the rich get richer and the poor poorer, as the shrinking upper-class builds it's gated communities and even more "gated communities" for the growing underclass.

Extrapolate the present trends, add the stresses of economic depression and displacement, include the effects of global warming no matter what the causes and one can come up with a fairly good prediction as to when it will occur.

And there is nothing on the horizon which would potentially reverse this course.

Arf