2016 Voter's Guide: Vote against "Bread and Circuses"

     As Rome was in decline, public unrest began to rise.  The government in order to quell the populace began to distribute free food and hold huge spectacles for entertainment.  They diverted the attention of the people from the serious concerns of government to selfish personal issues.  Juvenal, a Roman writer and critic, lamented the moral and political decline:  "Two things only the people anxiously desire- bread and circuses."
     It was a flaw in the character of the people to fall for the diversion.  Our own nation has its own experience with this diversion.  Rebates on taxes whether we paid them or not, cash-for-clunkers, and the promise of thousands of dollars to purchase a first home.  These promises hope to divert the attention of the people from the real issues of a nation.  They also help to curry favor for the giver of such gifts.
    A Scottish judge, writer, and historian saw a dangerous cycle in the distribution of public gifts.  Alexander Fraser Tytler wrote,  “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.”
      The Framers put their faith in the common people to protect their liberties by being vigilant to watch public officials in their spending of public monies.  They viewed public debt as a public curse (James Madison).  To Jefferson, public debt was one of the greatest dangers to be feared:  "I am not among those who fear the people.  They, not the rich, are our dependence for continued freedom.  And to preserve their independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt.  We must make our election between economy and liberty or profusion and servitude."
     This fall, do not vote for the one who will give you the most favors from the public treasury.  Vote for the one who has real ideas about cutting public debt.