Difference between revisions of "Voting for bread and circuses"
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<p>'Bread and Circuses' is the cancer of democracy, the fatal disease for which there is no cure. Democracy often works beautifully at first. But once a state extends the franchise to every warm body, be he producer or parasite, that day marks the beginning of the end of the state. '''For when the plebs discover that they can vote themselves bread and circuses without limit and that the productive members of the body politic cannot stop them''', they will do so, until the state bleeds to death, or in its weakened condition the state succumbs to an invader – the barbarians enter Rome.</p> | <p>'Bread and Circuses' is the cancer of democracy, the fatal disease for which there is no cure. Democracy often works beautifully at first. But once a state extends the franchise to every warm body, be he producer or parasite, that day marks the beginning of the end of the state. '''For when the plebs discover that they can vote themselves bread and circuses without limit and that the productive members of the body politic cannot stop them''', they will do so, until the state bleeds to death, or in its weakened condition the state succumbs to an invader – the barbarians enter Rome.</p> | ||
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| + | <p>Mine was a lovely world – until the parasites took over.</p> | ||
</blockquote> | </blockquote> | ||
| − | ''(found [http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show/11649 here] | + | <div align=right>— ''To Sail Beyond the Sunset'' p. 226-227 (paperback)<br><small>It is also found [http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show/11649 here].<br>[http://astroroach.blogspot.com/2008/10/tyler-cycle-or-bread-and-circuses.html This source] ascribes it to the character [[Lazarus Long]], but it is actually [[Jubal Harshaw]], whose "time line" has the same history as our own.</small></div> |
There is a similar quote attributed to [[Benjamin Franklin]] but probably not written by him: | There is a similar quote attributed to [[Benjamin Franklin]] but probably not written by him: | ||
<blockquote>When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.</blockquote> | <blockquote>When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.</blockquote> | ||
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==Usage== | ==Usage== | ||
This idea is commonly used as an argument for: | This idea is commonly used as an argument for: | ||