[Amelia]

but the solution lies elsewhere....in somehow changing the culture and philosophy of the thinkers and leaders in the country. Until that time, all we can reasonably hope for is to slow the growth of the government.

For too many, most, on both side of the isle, it's about power and percs.

I agree totally with this.

The question is, how do we change the mindsets? Part of the answer is in the Ben Franklin quote repeated by several other posters...as long as people can vote themselves money from the treasury, they have no incentive not to, and there's no incentive for the mindset to change; quite the opposite.

I'm not sure how to fix this, because whether it's Social Security, Medicare, prescription drugs, or any number of other perks, too many people now think it's their right to receive money from the government.

[RJCogburn]

The question is, how do we change the mindsets?

Dunno. A heroine of mine, Ayn Rand, came to consider the only appropriate political involvement was to vote. She thought until the philosophy of the country, as expressed by the 'intellectuals', was changed, we could not expect political results. I think she was generally correct and the best we can realistically hope for, regardless of JimRob's solution of destroying the Dems and liberals, is to slow the progression of statism.

Changing a culture will take a very long time....