The White House position on the Fiscal Cliff negotiations goes something like this...
"President Obama campaigned on higher taxes for the wealthy, and he won. As a result that's what he now demands."
To me, that sounds eerily like what happens in the semi-famous quote by Alexander Tytler from the 1700s on why democracies fail.
"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits with the result the democracy collapses because of the loose fiscal policy ensuing, always to be followed by a dictatorship, then a monarchy."
Of course, it's unfair to pin the current situation completely on President Obama and the last election. We've been voting this way for quite some time at all levels of government. Maybe the only difference is that he's being more up front about the consequences. Unfortunately, his hardball response today to the most recent Republican offer seems to indicate he also buys into the last part of Tytler's prediction.
Tytler was talking about the democracies of ancient Greece and Rome. I wonder what the history books will say about us?
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