But more profoundly, the 2012 elections will be a referendum on democracy itself, a contest between Plato and Protagoras.
It will show whether a critical mass of American voters are able to see beyond their own private interests and make decisions that, while causing themselves some pain, are nonetheless necessary for the long-term fiscal health of the country—or whether, consistent with the ancient critics of democracy and the fears of the founders, they will choose instead a government that uses its power to benefit those who are, as Polybius put it, “habituated to feed at the expense of others, and to have [their] hopes of a livelihood in the property of its neighbors.”
