I used to consider myself a democrat when I had the luxury of being supported by my parents for my first 21 years. The only issue I seemed to have an opinion on was a woman’s right to choose (which sounds much nicer than abortion). I found it illogical that the state would control such a personal issue, so I said I was a democrat. And my parents — who generally set a good example — were democrats which was good enough for me.
Then I went to grad school where I was too busy getting into debt to think much about social issues. A real job followed, and when the state took a third of my earnings away I began to reevaluate. Here I was, a productive member of society being forced to give money away for purposes unknown. This was one big bezoar to stomach!
I cast around for the democratic party rhetoric, which could be distilled into the basic argument that the people with less should be supported by the people with more. Less what? Less money, less intelligence, less responsibility, less anything. And regardless of the type of less, the more should support the less with money. Billions of dollars being given away to the people with less to prevent the collapse of society. And I thought, forget the right to choose; the democratic party philosophy is flawed, baby. How can a society prosper when the majority of the people survive through charity (involuntary) of the minority? R. Heinlein put it best:
…the America of my time…is a laboratory example of what can happen to democracies, what has eventually happened to all perfect democracies throughout all histories. A perfect democracy, a ‘warm body’ democracy in which every adult may vote and all votes count equally, has no internal feedback for self-correction. It depends solely on the wisdom and self-restraint of citizens…which is opposed by the folly and lack of self-restraint of other citizens. What is supposed to happen in a democracy is that each sovereign citizen will always vote in the public interest for the safety and welfare of all. But what does happen is that he votes his own self-interest as he sees it…which for the majority translates as ‘Bread and Circuses.’