Tour de France

[langostino]

no easy answer ...

I think that's the one thing everyone can agree on, no matter what else they disagree on.

As for complexities brought to the equation by money, politics, power, doctors, lawyers, etc., etc., while it's undeniable that that makes things very difficult, it's also true that those very same factors are in play in all sorts of other arenas, where society chooses not to pack it in and give up.

Whether it's corporate corruption and crime, corruption among professionals (CPAs, doctors, lawyers), etc. Take fights by corporations to avoid getting kicked out of a market due to pollution in their manufacturing process or toxicity of their products. Every time a new drug is reviewed by the FDA, there are dueling scientists, lawyers, the whole 9 yards. But we don't throw out the FDA or give up on trying to keep dangerous drugs off the market. Ditto corporate crime. White collar ciminals seem perpetually one step ahead of the system, the moment Sarb-Ox was passed the loopholes were already being exploited. That's hardly ideal circumstances, and corruption, etc. will never fully be rooted out of an human endeavor. But we do what we can, as effectively as we can. Perhaps I'm just an unrealistic optimist, but I believe there can be effective enough steps taken to take pro cycling out of the current wasteland it's in, where nobody is really winning.