When you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing - When you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors - When you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you - When you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice - You may know that your society is doomed.
Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
Now I wish I had read it again during that time. That would have been crazy. It did prepare me for the Obama years though.
It was if Obama was acting it out.