Gwyn Morgan wrote a very good article in today's Globe and Mail newspaper entitled, "Breaking the 'entitlement addition'" - while reviewing Mark Steyn's book "After America: Get Ready for Armageddon."  The thesis is that "the more people become dependent on government ... the less likely they are to vote for cutbacks."  Many treat government handouts as entitlements and quickly become addicted to them to the point that many of the recent riots are responses to  government efforts to reduce these entitlements.