Someone once pointed out the clear signs of when a democracy becomes corrupt and is near to collapse. He said that the rulers would be tolerated only if they allow their subjects to indulge in any vice they wanted; law abiding citizens would be considered stupid and out of touch with the current ways of the world; fathers would be afraid to correct their own children; children would readily and quickly insult their parents in the name of finding personal freedom; teachers would become afraid of students and students would hate their teachers; children and teens would act like they have perfect wisdom in all things, and old people would act like they are young; the women would dress like they are men and the men would dress like they are women. Interestingly, this was not said by someone criticizing these United States; it was said by Plato in his book, The Republic , in about 375 B.C. Not much has really changed.