I wish I could claim this quote, but Robert A. Heinlein said this in print in 1986. Watching TV these days, I think it's just as true today.

"There seems to have been an actual decline in rational thinking in the world in general.

The United States has become a place where entertainers and professional athletes are often mistaken for people of importance. They are idolized and treated as leaders; their opinions are sought on everything and they take themselves just as seriously.

After all, if an athlete is paid over a million dollars a year, he knows that he is important! He thereby feels that his opinions on foreign affairs and domestic policies must also be important! He is convinced of this fact, even though he proves himself to be ignorant and sub-literate, every time he opens his mouth.

Sadly, most of his fans are just as ignorant, and the disease seems to be spreading.

Public charity has insured that habitual failures, incompetents of every sort, people who won’t support themselves, illegal aliens and the like, have an equal voice in ruling the country, assessing taxes and spending them as those who work for a living.

What invariably happens to a democracy that goes the route of unlimited spending on “social” programs is national bankruptcy, which is historically followed by dictatorship. "



(Robert A. Heinlein, To Sail Beyond the Sunset, 1986)

The election of Obama kind of validates his claim.

Sounds rather familiar, Obama says he's going to cut the deficit if he gets elected in 08, gets elected and basicly doubled the yearly spending of the government, as in 5-6 trillion compared to 2-3trillion under gwb. And now, on the verge of exactly they, bankruptcy.