Wayne: Two days ago, I made the commitment to spend my Medium time differently (and a lot less). But your article sucked me in.

I really liked your Neptune and Vulcan analogy. As a coincidence, I'm reading a SF novel by Kim Robinson, and he brings in Vulcan as a side plot. However, it is my understanding that Neptune was discovered by a wobble in Uranus' orbit and Pluto was discovered by a moving reflection. You might want to check on that.

It has been my belief that poverty, not overt racism, is the prime cause of American (and other western nations' social ills). And just to be clear for PC people, there may indeed be subtle systemic racist forces and a few overt racist forces that kind of perpetuate that poverty. But if the poverty is reduced, a lot of that racism will disappear.

BTW, I did buy Part 2 of Fukuyama's Political Decay. I haven't got around to reading it yet.