Coyote writes:
‘Bread and Circuses’ is the cancer of democracy, the fatal disease for which there is no cure
Well so far bread and circuses is working fine and all democracies are working better than any other method. Plus, Heinlein, wonderful writer though he is, was writing fiction.
"Bread and circuses" is not working fine in the US.
There are simply too few people working to support those who are not working in the style to which they have been, or would like to become, accustomed. Add in those on food stamps or disability, or earning a pension which has not already been funded. Add in the money required to keep up with the give-aways our politicians are promising to get reelected. And perhaps one might consider the already-massive federal debt.
No, "bread and circuses" is not working fine.
While democracy has been "working better than any other method" it is suffering the problems Heinlein noted, and I doubt that it will be working well enough in the future.
Maybe the founding fathers had it right--those who own property and pay taxes should be the ones allowed to vote. Those who are a burden on the economy should not be allowed to vote themselves "largess from the public treasury."
And it is not just Heinlein, the writer of fiction who has put forth this idea:
Alexander Fraser Tytler - Wikiquote
Religious belief does not constitute scientific evidence, nor does it convey scientific knowledge.
Belief gets in the way of learning--Robert A. Heinlein
How can I possibly put a new idea into your heads, if I do not first remove your delusions?--Robert A. Heinlein
It's not what we don't know that hurts, it's what we know that ain't so--Will Rogers