Benefits

A man by the name of Alexander Tyler is credited with saying

"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship."

I realize we have a Representative Republic and not a Democracy but the idea intrigues me because in the next election we will find out if the people are wise enough to vote to limit their benefits or will they chose to spend us into bankruptcy.