I know this is long, but take the time to digest it and let me know your thoughts!!!
"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the Public Treasury. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the Public Treasury with a result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy always followed by dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have 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 Dependency
* From Dependency back into Bondage"
--- most commonly attributed to
"The Decline and Fall of the Athenian Republic"
by Alexander Fraser Tytler Lord Woodhouselee (1748-1813)
(Scottish judge and historian at Edinburgh University)
Saturday, November 8, 2008
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1 comment:
The implication being that we stand to lose what we have, but even in the progression described in the quote is historically accurate, the difference between the history described, and our present situation is that we are a Democratic Republic, not a pure democracy.
We have a Constitution that can only be changed through great effort.
We have judges assigned the job of interpreting that Constitution (judges who on the federal side have lifetime tenure and don't have an incentive to change their views with the whims of the crowd).
We have a legislative branch, some members of which may use the power of the purse to maintain their own personal power, but it is checked and balanced by the executive branch and the judicial branch.
While no one endorses everything that goes on in the name of govenment, I'm not ready to give up hope for this grand experiment.
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