Our founders’ greatest fear that any pure democracy unshackled by strict limitations would inevitably destroy itself is being played out in two distinct dramas. While each has a different plot, both are headed toward the same ending.
Detroit’s bankruptcy bears witness to destruction by one-party rule, as 60 years of unchecked corruption and incompetence come to a head. Watch as the accumulated debts of a government willing to buy votes from the non-productive at the expense of the productive fall upon a dwindling populace too poor, dependent, or stupid to flee.
Washington’s terminal gridlock bears witness to destruction by dysfunctional duopoly, as two implacably hostile parties, safely ensconced in gerrymandered districts, fight over the frozen controls on a runaway train. Consumed by massive entitlement spending growing on autopilot, the only thing forestalling federal bankruptcy is unlimited money printing. This has postponed the day of reckoning by ensuring that when that day arrives, either by repudiation or inflation, it will be all the more painful.
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Bill Frezza 
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