At the end of the day, you either have your self-respect or not. The degree of one's own self-respect will inevitably dictate the level of respect given by others. This holds true for a lot of things, including city leaderships.

Elected officials learn the hard way that by failing their constituents by acquiescing to special interests while in office, they are less respected by the very special interests benefiting from that failure. Most of these politicians eventually find themselves out of office and out of favor with everyone, including the people for whom they abdicated their integrity.

Click here to vote. The deadline is January 15, and we'll be conducting weekly drawings from valid ballots for great prizes.

Remember: You must provide valid answers for at least half the categories for your ballot to be counted.

Last week, Isle of Capri (IOC) notified the City of Davenport that it was putting its 11-story casino hotel, to be located on the downtown riverfront, on hold while it studies alternatives to the current riverboat-casino model.

The screeching citizens are hearing is IOC's brakes slamming as it hits the predicted financial wall. During September and October, both properties (Isle of Capri in Bettendorf and Rhythm City Casino in Davenport) lost 12 percent of their combined revenues to the newly opened Riverside Casino & Golf Resort in Riverside, Iowa.

IOC is finally getting serious competition not only from Riverside, but also Jumer's Casino Rock Island, which is currently constructing a facility on Interstate 280 on the outskirts of Rock Island.

This week's article by Jeff Ignatius, "Rock the Vote Boat," underscores the enormous weight of each American's vote. Ignatius concludes with a quote from The Broken Branch: "Citizens at the polls are the most powerful agents of change."

Thus begins my traditional election-time mantra: Get out and vote! Do it because (1) it's your civic duty as an American; (2) it's your constitutional right and privilege as an American; or how about (3) because it's the last thing the politicians want you to do. There's a reason for this.

The two major political parties, Democrats and Republicans, make it their political mission to encourage voters to stay home. Historical poll data clearly shows a consistent percentage of voters who cast ballots in every election. Sadly this percentage is less than half of all eligible voters, which means that the majority of voters consistently don't vote. And that is the percentage political strategists work the hardest to maintain.