Good for you - I sing the same tunes, if they're leaning Democrat regardless, I'd rather they didn't vote at all.
And I've always thought, having been continously employed since 16, even on college breaks and summers, that if you aren't working/paying taxes, ie contributing & having an actual stake - that they shouldn't be allowed to vote until they learn to give to society more than they take.
I mean, isn't that what we've seen? - those who contribute least have their hands out most, & on our tab to boot?
LBJ's great giveaway to buy the votes his racist So. Dems were losing their party.
What REALLY irks me the most is the opportunity cost to generations of American wealth accumulation, especially among the poorest, of the New Deal, Fair Deal & Great Society. What enormous compounded wealth was lost. It has to a number very much larger than the total dollars these programs were fed - not to mention the strife created by the perverse disincentives.
Indeed that is exactly what we've seen and it is no accident as you so rightly point out. It is time -no! LONG past time - that we, the guys who pay the freight, retake control of our government!