Guest
10-28-2011, 12:26 PM
I'm going to try this again. The previous administrators banished the topic to that great void in cyberspace where administratively deleted posts now reside.
A long time ago this quote was attributed, arguably, to a Scot. His name was Alexander Tytler. While he is the unverified source of record, there has been copious research suggesting the quote is actually a composite from several like minded sources, ergo precise attribution is elusive. So......with that caveat.......as you wait with breathless anticipation to learn about the previously censored post.....here it is as I recall.
A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years.
During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:
From bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to selfishness;
From selfishness to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage.
The question is.........how do we break the cycle? How far down the sequence are we? Seriously.
A long time ago this quote was attributed, arguably, to a Scot. His name was Alexander Tytler. While he is the unverified source of record, there has been copious research suggesting the quote is actually a composite from several like minded sources, ergo precise attribution is elusive. So......with that caveat.......as you wait with breathless anticipation to learn about the previously censored post.....here it is as I recall.
A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years.
During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:
From bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to selfishness;
From selfishness to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage.
The question is.........how do we break the cycle? How far down the sequence are we? Seriously.