Bread and Circuses

Towards the end of the Roman Empire, an entitlement program was introduced that we refer to as "Bread and Circuses." The basics of the program was food was given out and entertainment was provided to the lower class in the Roman cities in order to keep the peasants happy. As the misery increased, the amount of food and entertainment that was required to keep them happy had to be increased. This eventually led to the fall of the Roman Empire because people left the countryside to partake in the "free" goodies which resulted in food shortages.

Fast forward to our present day here in the United States of America and we have "bread and circuses" on a grander scale. What is our modern "bread and circuses" you ask?

The "bread" is welfare, WIC, foodstamps, medicare, medicaid, free school lunches/breakfasts, reduced school lunches/breakfasts, public housing, section 8 housing, low income housing, etc. Any program that takes from one person and "gives" to another who didn't earn it in order to provide food, shelter, or medical services falls into the "bread" category. Notice how the "assistance" that is provided is just enough to keep those receiving it from starving but not enough to help them become self reliant (those who want to be self reliant are outweighed by those who will not work to better their station in life). The result is increased taxation of the productive which leads to less employment and more people requiring "assistance" and the cycle continues.

Now for the "circuses." The "circuses" aren't always government funded in their entirety or at all. In our modern age, people no longer have to travel to great coliseums in order to be entertained. You don't even have to leave your house to be entertained for the most part. Because of wealth transfers in the form of welfare, unemployment, or social security disability (even if the person is capable of working) people who don't work can still go to movies, sporting events, and many other events in order to entertain themselves thanks to the productive. If they don't want to leave their "home" they can; and many do; buy a T.V. and DVD player to entertain themselves at the taxpayer's expense. The fun doesn't stop there though, because of government theft (see my previous posting on plunder), they also have the money to pay for cable or satellite service to keep them entertained. Of course what "circus" would be complete without a touch of reality? Hence the introduction of reality TV. We're not content with watching movies or TV shows like they used to be. Now we can watch "normal" everyday people on TV thanks to shows like Survivor, Big Brother, American Idol, The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, The Amazing Race, etc.

I am reminded of the Brad Paisley song "Celebrity"

Someday, I'm gonna be famous,
Do I have talent? Well, no.
These days you don't really need it,
Thanks to reality shows.

Those lyrics sum up the reality TV craze. Thanks to people like Woodrow Wilson and FDR, we got the "bread." With the popularity of reality TV, we have the "circuses" in full force. With the invasion of 20+ million illegal aliens, we have the barbarians. The fall of the modern day Roman Empire is taking place right now despite the few that are trying to stop it from happening. The problem is that in order to stop the impending doom, everybody will have to deal with a little pain to get back to the road of liberty. This will not happen because, as a society, we are weak and lazy. But people like Mike Church, Kevin Gutzman, Ron Paul, Tom Woods, and others will continue to fight for freedom and liberty even when we are called names and insulted.