Democracy cannot exist in the presence of government-supplied welfare.
The Roman Republic discovered this two thousand years ago, as the rabble voted for the Emperor who would give them bread and circuses
Well said! It was socialism, not "barbarians" that doomed the Roman Empire.
Also note that it was the end of the Roman Republic, and it's replacement by a series of dictatorial emperors, that hastened the end.
http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/ch18.htm
The fall of the Weimar Republic and the rise of Nazism ws chillingly similar. How often does history have to repeat itself before we wake up?