In some cases, especially in societies with governments that attempt to justify their existence and their actions on "democratic" grounds, many people may be taken in by this ideological sleight of hand. They may actually believe that "we tax ourselves" so that the rulers "we choose" can dispose of the loot in ways that "we voted for," failing to appreciate the gulf that separates this pristine ideological vision from the sordid facts on the ground.
Once this sort of thinking becomes pervasive, however, it serves to sanctify specific forms of predation without any clear limit. People come to believe, or at least they work hard at convincing themselves, that anything the government might stand ready to give them, they thereby have a perfect right to receive. At this point, all contact with genuine morality has been lost, and because a society of sociopaths cannot remain viable in the long haul, the nation that embarks on this course has set sail toward its own ruin.
