evidence: A half a century later, French philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville assessed early America with great intrigue, but is said to have surmised, "The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money." Nearly 200 years have gone by since de Tocqueville criss-crossed the land of promise in its early days, and America has stood the test of time by any measure. Self-government, at first the wide-eyed hope of young Founding Fathers, is now more common throughout the world than not. Though it has been the inspiration of a new world order, the American Republic has seemingly edged ever closer to its undoing by the abandonment of virtue in Washington. The late U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, MD, having spent the latter part of his career in Congress railing against "careerism" in Washington, concluded, "career politicians do not have the courage to prioritize spending and say no to the demanding special interest groups who do not reflect the best interest of the country."