Of course, the Polititians on both side of the isle say that it can never happen here. We are a Government of the People, for the People, and by the People.
So is, or was, Venezuela. Untill this happened.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Fraser_Tytler
We are pretty close to this.
Keep in mind, all of the powers that Hugo Chavez garnered were given to him by the voters. Madura is living off of that same business plan.
Originally Posted by Jackie S
This is the most relevant quote from Jackie's link,
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....
And this is exactly what has played out in Venezuela.
Will this happen in the USA? It could. We've already got loose fiscal policy, with federal debt that's risen from $5.7 trillion at the time George W. Bush became president to $21.5 trillion now. Millennials support socialism over capitalism. They believe in largess for the majority and restricting individual rights. The policies of their spokesperson, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, would take the process further, to the point where the country would be bankrupt and government would control much of the means of production. Government would confiscate their capital before entrepreneurs like Sam Walton, Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos would be allowed to build companies like Walmart, Microsoft and Amazon. And the very successful entrepreneurs that created companies like these would have their ownership whittled down, 3% every year.
At this point the country would be ripe for some kind of socialist dictatorship. Unlike Venezuela, we do have stronger rule of law and a Constitution that strongly protects individual rights. But who knows, so did Zimbabwe.