I find it quite striking that as the streets of France are full of people demanding a continuation of their entitlements, the streets of America are full of people demanding that the government knock it off with the entitlements. There are inconsistencies and exceptions everywhere, of course, but the big picture provides a marked contrast.
As I am fond of saying, there are three kinds of people in the world — those who can count, and those who cannot. We are currently being governed by those who cannot count, and not through a native inability to do so, for they appear to manage their own portfolios well enough. But for spiritual reasons, having to do with malice, envy and hatred, they cannot make their peace with fiscal discipline. Because of their willful and stubborn refusal to count the money rightly, they will be forced to undergo the rudimentary math lesson of counting the votes rightly.
So this coming election is, in the observation of P.J. O’Rourke, less of an election than it is a restraining order.