Alexis de Touqueville was right!

Alexis de Toqueville (1805 - 1859), the famous 18th century French sociologist, philosopher and economist, was a great fan of America. Not America per se, but rather our system of government.  

Back then France was just getting over being ruled by French kings, as it had for centuries.  And de Toqueville (AdT) wasn't a fan of monarchies, France's or anybody elses'.  He just loved the idea of representative republics (as he termed them, "democracies"). And not "majority rules" democracies, but representative republics; you elect those who will vote your wishes.  That defines America's system.  Or rather, it's supposed to.  I think we could all agree that sometimes it really doesn't.

Remember that our famous Founding Father Benjamin Franklin defined "democracy" as, "Two wolves and a sheep deciding on what to have for lunch."  We don't got one o' those...

Back to AdT.

AdT was an expert on prisons.  He studied them, wrote about them and advised the French government about how to build and operate and manage them.  It was this specialty that brought him to America in 1835 to study our prison systems. While here he developed his great love and admiration for our political and economic system.  

But AdT was also aware that, just like Rome and earlier Greece, such republics can - and do - go down in flames unless the excesses such forms of government can foster are kept in check.  What does that mean?  Read on...

Seldom has a democracy or representative republic lasted in the entire history of the world more than 200 years.  Ancient Greece didn't make it past that.  Neither did Roman Empire.   And now the U.S., itself barely past that milestone, finds itself on the precipice of failing due to its own excesses.  Too much success can cause those who get more than they produce to want even more.  More food, more housing, more entertainment, more transportation, more welfare, more, more, more!  That defines us, my friends.

But one observation AdT made should be sounding an alarm bell.  In his book, "The American Perspective," he stated that:

     "The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with their own money."  

Consider if you will, my friends, and you are my friends, the following statistics:

     -  We as a Country bring in more than $3.7 Trillion a year in Federal income tax receipts.  An all-time record, by the way. Yet, we somehow (mis)manage to spend at least $500 Billion more than that, and sometimes double that number. This level of overspending has left us nearly $20 Trillion in debt. That level of indebtedness has doubled since B. Hussein Obama began infesting the White House.  If this continues, and there's nothing on the horizon to indicate it won't, we will become Greece in a few short years.  At which point, we will become structurally bankrupt.

     -  94,600,000 Americans out of the workforce (Workforce Participation Rate, Federal Government statistic).  That leaves only 63.4% of all over 18, able-bodied Americans in the workforce, the very lowest number since Jimmuh' Carter was doing his very best to screw up our Country.    

     -  There are now more so-called 18 - 35 year-old "Millennials" in America than "Seniors."  That means there's likely more unemployed people living in their parents' basements, choking on student loan debt, waiting for their next welfare check, then retirees contemplating, or not-so-much enjoying, their retirement, while waiting for their hard-earned Social Security check to arrive in the mail.

     -  The number receiving Food Stamps has increased over the past seven and one-half years from just over 24 million to well over 46 million.  That means fully 15% of the population living off the productivity of those who choose to go to work in the morning. In other words, the "takers" are taking with both hands from the "makers."  And I would argue that this 15% represent a major chunk of the group which will almost certainly vote for the Lefty in order to insure that this gravy train keeps heading on down the track.

     -  We're told that our unemployment rate, as reported by the Labor Department, which works for and reports to Barry H. Obama, is 4.9%.  That's laughable.  That percentage does not take into consideration those who are no longer in the workforce, as listed above, and are no longer looking for work.  The real unemployment rate is over 11%!  And if you're "Looking For Work While Black?"  Well over 16%, more than 5% higher than when they elected, and then reelected, Barry Obama.  I wonder if they're happy with their choice.  Or even if they know that they made a bad one...twice!

     -  Obama and his Leftist wealth redistributors have disassembled our once-fabled healthcare system and replaced it with a hybrid of the one used in Britain/Canada. They did it by taking healthcare from those who had it, and were paying for it, and then giving it to those who didn't, along with Federal taxpayer-funded subsidies to help them pay for it.  And then permitting those who used to have it to buy it back, at a much higher monthly rate, along with a much, much higher deductible (up to $12,000!).  By so doing, the socialists among us subsumed one-sixth of our total economy in the name of wealth redistribution.  In effect, they're buying the votes of those that "take" with the money stolen from those that "make."  Reread AdT's admonition, above.

     -  And to pay for at a least portion of this liberal largess, the Lefties in charge have extricated more than One Trillion Dollars from the budget of our Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines!  The result?  We now have the smallest Navy since the day before Pearl Harbor.  Our Army is the smallest since the end of World War One. Our Air Force is the smallest since it was formed back in 1955.  As an example, the average age of our Air Force fighter planes is 23 years! These planes are often older than the pilots who fly them. We're having to cannibalize some airplanes in order to keep the others flying. Ask yourself: Are our enemies more, or less likely to attack us when we're weak, or when we're strong?  I think you know the answer.     
   
     -  Over the past 15 years the number of self-described "Democrats" or "Liberals" has increased from 29% of the population to 34.5% of the population, while the number of "Republicans" or "Conservatives" has decreased by a like percentage.  That means there is now an increasing number of people looking to the Government for food stamps, rental assistance, aid-to-families-with-dependent-children, Earned Income Tax Credits (that's the inaptly named check you get from the Feds for not making enough money to pay taxes!), and other forms of Federal assistance.  That means these are the people who will likely vote for that assistance to continue, and those who promise to give it to them are the crooks who AdT was warning us about.

The Bottom Line:  Our Country is on the razor edge of imploding.  I would suggest that those of us who actually think, should think of these unimpeachable facts when they enter the voting booth come November 8th.  Vote well, my friends. Our future, and our kids' futures, depends upon it...