It has often been said that the end of democracy shall come when individuals realize they can vote to give themselves loot from the treasury. As we enter the traditional pandering phase of the presidential campaign, this idea might be something to hold in mind, along with the $9 trillion national deficit.

Expensive promises of lavish federal giveaways are nothing new to presidential campaigns, of course — they are in fact the one form of vote-buying that still remains legal in America. With this, each election cycle brings new promises of entitlements that depend upon the voters being courted — be it an expensive new prescription drug benefit for Medicare, farm subsidies or yet another new federal benefit.

If there’s one reason that older generations seem to make out like bandits in this process (at the dear expense of younger generations), it should be clear why: they vote. According to a report by the U.S. Census Bureau, turnout by voters aged 55 and up was 72 percent — compared to 47 percent by voters aged 18 to 24. Older registered voters also outnumber their younger counterparts by nearly 2 to 1.

Thus, where the bacon goes once election time rolls around should come as no surprise — politicians clearly know where their bread is buttered.

Given an extremely tight nomination race (at least for one party), even college students are finding ways to tap the well, with promises of full grants, scholarships and other junior giveaways — all if their vote is wisely chosen. This process is naturally exacerbated by the well-meaning but short-sighted folks who encourage participation by younger generations for exactly this purpose — to exploit the bonanza.

How this bonanza would be paid for, aside from mutterings about “rolling back tax cuts on the wealthy,” barely even enters the discussion.

Meanwhile, the fact that older generations turn out to vote in the greatest numbers is typically used as political cover to suppress uncomfortable discussions of how we’ll continue to pay for their lavish entitlement programs as more baby-boomers retire — with those just entering the workforce getting stuck with the bill.

After all, why risk angering the population with the highest turnout simply to appease those who vote far less often?

Thus, rather than milking the process for some meager short-term gain, a better solution for younger generations would be to use their potential votes to start forcing out some uncomfortable answers on how we intend to pay for all of these entitlements.

As it stands, Social Security and Medicare project massive, looming unfunded mandates — more than $40 trillion for the lifetime of the baby boomer retirement. New entitlements like the Medicare prescription drug benefit, passed by Bush and the then-Republican Congress, only threaten to tear this hole even wider

Thus, instead of seeking a short-term payoff from the political slots, younger voters should use their influence to force a political showdown to determine how we intend to pay for the long-term costs of the entitlements lavished upon older generations, regardless of their need.

Over the long term, the payoff of this strategy is ultimately far greater than whatever raft of junior entitlements they might hope to extract now.

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