A true example of civics.
Once the wags can vote the Treasury into their pocket, everyone or at least a majority, becomes nine year olds clamoring after the ice cream truck...
I think this points to why socialist progressives (Democrats and some wishy washy Repubs) over time have won the game, at least until the system collapses.
They trade votes for promises of goodies, and the other side (conservatives, etc.) cannot duplicate and do not want to because they do not believe in it, knowing it is destructive, but end up losing over time due to this phenomena.
Social and economic liberals, running as Democrats, pass system ginning government programs like Social Security, Medicare, and now Universal Health Care, via promising goodies, then the populace gets hooked on the "freebies" they think they are getting, and the same politicians threaten them by crying the other side is always trying to "take their benefits away" to induce continued support.
In other words, it is a big con shell game that they play to obtain a built in election advantage over the conservatives, which ensures they will be in power most of the time.
Until the GOP and or conservatives and other constitutional defending types get a grip on stopping these power plays, they cannot win with the deck being progressively stacked against them. They are fighting the current on stat-ism that is expanding, not contracting, etc.