Posted on 01/19/2013 7:11:42 PM PST by Fawn
I was searching random things the other day and I ran across this little gem. I mentioned it on my radio show, WHWDRadio this Wednesday and I’ll share it with you today. Helpless plug, I know. LOL
These eight steps were written in 1787 by Professor Alexander Tyler. The United States was in the planning process of a young and fragile Democracy. So, this Professor took a look at the past and tried to map out the evolution of a Democracy. He determined a time line for these eight steps and an estimate of how long the process would take, 200 years.
The Eight Steps
From Bondage to Spiritual Faith
Do we forget how young of a nation we are? Europe had shaped and reshaped itself so many times before we were even put on a map.
England ruled the young America, not with whips and chains, but with taxes. The people weren’t allowed to build a strong nation because all the money they made was sent back to England. In the beginning, they were cool with that.
They were running from Europe so they would have the right to serve the God of their choosing and the manner in which they would serve that God. To them, at least in the beginning, the sacrifice was worth it. But that didn’t last long because Spiritual Faith is life altering.
From Spiritual Faith to Great Courage
Now, you have spiritual people who fully believe God has their best interest at heart and that translates into the building of courage.
Not in just this case, but in every case. Once you let God into your life, you begin to feel like you can move mountains. When you trust and have faith, fear seems to melt away.
From Courage to Liberty
This may seem funny but the courage you get from God makes you want to fight. O.K. maybe I didn’t say that right. The courage you get from God makes it impossible for you to allow someone to block your blessings. There, that’s better.
Our founding fathers knew we could not prosper with England at the head of our lives. We had to be a nation that put God first, then country, then family.
So NO! We will not bow to your Queen, we will not allow you to rob our country of it’s chance to be great, and no we will not allow you to dictate the lives of our children and grandchildren. We have God on our side and will fight for what we feel is right.
And that’s what we did. We fought and won our independence, our freedom, and our Liberty.
From Liberty to Abundance
And once you put your faith in God and walk through the fire without fear, you receive your blessing. And can’t we all agree, America has been blessed. We sprouted from a young nation into a world leader in record time.
Industry flourished, businesses developed, and the Economy became the envy and standard of the world. We fought amongst ourselves, defended our friends and allies, and built the strongest military force on the planet. We adjust and change our laws, while still adhering to the basic principles of our Constitution.
But all this comes with a price.
From Abundance to Complacency
Complacency- self-satisfaction, especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers and deficiencies
I think this came around the time of the Great Depression. The New Deal. The belief started to creep in that we had the money to do anything. People were hurting and wanted immediate help, so they turned to the government and the government answered.
We’re temporarily going to give out Social Security benefits, just to get people by until things get better. We’re going to set up Medicaid and Medicare to help the underprivileged and elderly, who just can’t afford healthcare. These are just temporary steps to get us through these hard times.
When did they end Social Security? They didn’t. No politician is going to advocate taking services from the poor and the old. Plus, now government has a huge money supply from all the taxes they collect for Social Security. Great way to get money from you to borrow against for other Government projects.
As the government continued to grow, so did it’s hold on the mind of the American people.
From Complacency to Apathy
Apathy- lack of interest or concern; indifference
Now, we believe we can not fail. We pushed the Nazi’s back and crushed Russia, what could go wrong? The age of drugs spread through America and people stopped caring. It was better to protest than to put yourself into a position to run for office. It was better to make love than resist the up and coming war in our own backyard, the ever growing size of government.
Then, one morning we awoke and realized Government played a role in every aspect of our life. We pay taxes from the moment we get up in the morning to the moment we go to sleep at night. They can tell your teenage daughter it’s O.K. to get an abortion without telling a parent. They can even take away your land and cite “eminent domain”.
And we threw our hands up and said “F it”. It’s nothing we can do, the government runs everything. And we stopped listening, we stopped paying attention, and we stopped holding politicians accountable for their actions. We allowed ourselves to be scared of the Government instead of making the Government scared of us.
This is were it gets really scary.
From Apathy to Dependence
This is were we are right now. We were so indifferent and complacent, the first person to come along and promise us the pot at the end of the rainbow, we jumped. This once God loving nation is starting to worship the Government instead.
The same God that gave our forefather’s the strength and courage to fight is being contested at every turn. God teaches us to rely on him and then on ourselves and the Government doesn’t like that. The now enormous Government, needs to keep feeding itself and it needs your complacency to do it.
They need you to not care they are taking over private industry. They need you to look away while the let the printing press run. They need you to worry about Nancy Pelosi, while the Federal Reserve consolidates power. And there’s only one way that could happen, if you are dependent upon them.
If you can’t keep your house without the Government, then you don’t care how they do it. If you can’t eat without the Government, you don’t care where your food comes from. If you can’t see a doctor without the Government, you don’t care how much it will cost future generations.
We have become the nation of ME, Myself, and I and then anyone else that’s poor. They got us right were they want us, completely dependent on the Government to make the economy work, to solve our individual financial woes, and to just give us that tingly feeling.
Guess what the last step is?
From Dependence to back into Bondage
This is what I don’t understand about America today. There was a time in our history where people were given jobs, houses, food, and healthcare. It was called SLAVERY!
Master controlled everything about the lives of their slaves. They picked the winners and losers, the house nigga and the field nigga. They assualted those that would protest against their actions. They told their slaves when they could and couldn’t procreate. They picked which part of the pig the slaves got to eat.
Now, the government is starting to enlist the same tactics. They pick which people can get their homes refinanced or modified. They pick which companies are to big to fail and which one’s aren’t worth saving. They release terror list for Americans, AMERICANS, that would question the direction of their country. And with Obama’s full support of Planned Parenthood and his plans for national healthcare, population control won’t be far behind.
And we’re letting it happen. We are putting our heads in the sand and all our faith in a Man. A man that came from Chicago politics. A man that has an entire cabinet full of tax cheats and people who at one time or another have been under investigation. A man that down plays Christianity abroad and refuses to pray in front of a nation audience.
We’ve passed the 200 year mark but we’re still progressing straight back to Bondage. The Government never gives up power. All the power the current Government is stacking will now be the norm, how can it get any bigger? It will and they will want more money to make it happen.
But before they come after more money, they will come for our guns. Mark my words. The American people are different from those in the past. We will always believe in our right to protect ourselves.
When the social spending fails and the Government is knocked down a peg, the people at the top will tell us it’s in our best interest to let them handle it. The question will be, will we go back to God and develop the Great Courage to bring our country back from the brink or will hold out our arms and allow the government to attach the chains?
Bump
We're heading for serious trouble, and I don't hold much hope at this point.
Mark
The model for what happens to Democracies was ancient Athens. Plato lays it out pretty well in The Republic. As did a number of other classical writers, Greek and Roman.
Great post. I really enjoyed reading that... or did I? Pretty scary.
BTTT.
We are a Republic NOT a Democracy!
We are only a republic IF the constitution is being followed.
On paper.
Really? Who knew?
We have not been a Constitutional Republic in a long long time. It started with the changes to the voting laws and liberalization of the same.
One man one vote. Only people with skin in the game, landed people vote. All the others need to earn the right.
So it goes. So it ends.
AND END WOMEN’S SUFFERAGE! THEY HAVE SUFFERED LONG ENOUGH
I learned today that Woodrow Wilson started this... figures.
Just so you don’t get too far out on the limb, he didn’t say this at all. He made a few comments that kind of have some of these sentiments, but most of it has been added on by people in the last century. It’s become a good quote though.
It would help if schools today taught that we were a Republic instead of a democracy.
We have 40 years of socialist sheep that were produced by the public school system!
Yep - started the Dole and the inevitable happened...
The correct name may be "Tytler" but the source itself is questionable. A possible source of the observation is Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay, author and politician, in a letter to a friend in 1857.
Regardless of the source the words stand on their own.
1. From bondage to spiritual faith.
2. From faith to great courage.
3. From courage to liberty.
4. From liberty to abundance.
5. From abundance to complacency.
6. From complacency to selfishness.
7. From selfishness to apathy.
8. From apathy to dependency.
9. And from dependency back again into bondage.
Ok Thanks. I was just interested in the article. A pastor was talking about this today..I thought it was really good...
Rome had a pretty impressive Republic, then the likes of Marius and Sulla came along - ever pushing the boundaries of unlimited power for longer and longer periods. By the time Julius Caesar arrived on the scene, there were very few traditional “Republicans” left as the “bread and circuses” crowd far outweighed the traditionalists. Even so, the transition from Julius to Imperial Rome took 17 years, and stayed that way for centuries.
Rome took a lesson from the failure of Athens. They had a deliberate balance of powers, with the Senate, consuls, tribunes, and plebs.
Caesar is usually depicted as a dictator—and therefore assumed by the folks who twist our history to be right-wing. But in fact like most dictators he was a leftist, and belonged to the Populist party.
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