06 September 2004 15:49
this has been floating around the internet for a while...At about the time the original 13 states adopted their new constitution in 1787, a Scottish history professor by the name of Professor Alexander Tyler had this to say about "The Fall of the Athenian Republic" over 2000 years earlier.
"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse (generous gifts) from the public treasury.
"From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship.
"The average age of the world's greatest civilization has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence.
From bondage to spiritual faith;
from spiritual faith to great courage;
from courage to liberty;
from liberty to abundance,
from abundance to complacency;
from complacency to apathy,
from apathy to dependence,
from dependence back into bondage."
Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University of Law, St. Paul, MN passed on the above gem and provides the following 2000 election facts:
Population of counties won by Gore 127 million, won by Bush 143 million
Square miles of country won by Gore 580,000, won by Bush 2,427,000
States won by Gore 19, by Bush 29
Murder per 100,000 residents in counties won by Gore 13.2 by Bush 2.1 (not a typo)
Professor Olson adds, "And may I add that the map of the territory Bush won was (mostly) the land owned by the people of this great country. Not the citizens living in cities owned by the government and living off the government...."
Professor Olson thinks the US is now between the apathy and complacency phases, although up to 40% of the nation's population has already reached the dependency phase. Go welfare!
15:49 email me permalink / commentary (0)
