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VANITY: Looking for a Founding Father quote
Posted on 10/14/2003 9:54:36 AM PDT by Tandem
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1
posted on
10/14/2003 9:54:36 AM PDT
by
Tandem
To: Tandem
That would be a Soviet founding father
2
posted on
10/14/2003 9:59:13 AM PDT
by
Nov3
(one day at a time since 10/12/1984)
To: Tandem
Historian Alexander Fraser Tytler wrote then that A democracy . . . can only exist until a majority of voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury.
To: Tandem
Historian Alexander Fraser Tytler wrote then that A democracy . . . can only exist until a majority of voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury.
To: Tandem
Be very careful with this quote. I have seen it variously attributed to "Alexander Tytler," "Alexander Titus" and other similar combinations. It is often unsourced when it is used. I once tried to track it down in Bartlett's and other authoritative quote sources and was unsuccessful. If it was ever said, I'm not sure it was contemporaneously documented.
Web pages are full of mis-attributed quotes, so don't rely on them. I wouldn't trust it unless I had the document from which it came in my hands.
5
posted on
10/14/2003 10:14:17 AM PDT
by
untenured
To: Tandem
To: Tandem
AUTHOR: Alexander Fraser Tytler (17471813)
QUOTATION: A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse 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, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the worlds greatest civilizations has been 200 years.
Alexis D'Tocqville said some cool things too.
7
posted on
10/14/2003 10:16:32 AM PDT
by
Soliton
(Alone with everyone else.)
To: Tandem
AUTHOR: Alexander Fraser Tytler (17471813)
QUOTATION: A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse 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, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the worlds greatest civilizations has been 200 years.
Alexis D'Tocqville said some cool things too.
8
posted on
10/14/2003 10:16:56 AM PDT
by
Soliton
(Alone with everyone else.)
To: Tandem
Alexis de Tocqville.
9
posted on
10/14/2003 10:20:16 AM PDT
by
elbucko
(Molon Labe)
To: Tandem
I think this is the source of the quote you seek.
A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largess of the public treasury. From that time on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the results that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's great civilizations 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 selfishness
from selfishness to complacency
from complacency to apathy
from apathy to dependency
from dependency back again to bondage.
--Sir Alex Fraser Tytler (1742-1813) Scottish jurist and historian.
To: Tandem
What have the Democrats ever done for Republicans?
They've not even givin us as much as a simple "Thank you for supporting us all our lives."
Instead, they attack and demand more. They bite the very hand that feeds them.
"Throw not your pearls before swine, lest they gobble them up and turn to devour you."
11
posted on
10/14/2003 10:35:34 AM PDT
by
concerned about politics
(Have you donated to the Salvation Army this week? How have you helped a lost soul today?)
To: Tandem
I found this at
Neal Boortz's site:This is one of my favorites. From Alexander Tyler. No, he wasn't writing about the United States. This quote is well over one hundred years old. Tyler was writing about the fall of the Athenian Republic.
"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 treasure. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's great civilizations has been two hundred 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 to bondage."
Although I see a lot of people have credited it to Tytler.
12
posted on
10/14/2003 10:48:30 AM PDT
by
eyespysomething
(As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17))
To: PeaceBeWithYou
You got it right, peace. My source for this (whose link is now broken) said this was published in 1801.
13
posted on
10/14/2003 10:55:46 AM PDT
by
upchuck
(This Tag Line be blank on porpoise :)
To: upchuck
Thank you to everyone. This is exactly what I was looking for. I was a little surprised that the reference wasn't to America, but to democracy in general. The thinking certainly fits, though.
14
posted on
10/14/2003 11:01:01 AM PDT
by
Tandem
To: Tandem
Thanks to you for asking for this info..It's a keeper for me.
15
posted on
10/14/2003 11:10:51 AM PDT
by
Mears
To: Tandem
The issue was addressed on June 26 at the Constitutional Convention during debate over the form of the Senate.
Mr. Madison... "In framing a system which we wish to last for ages, we shd. not lose sight of the changes which ages will produce.
An increase of population will of necessity increase the proportion of those who will labour under all the hardships of life, & secretly sigh for a more equal distribution of its blessings. These may in time outnumber those who are placed above the feelings of indigence. According to the equal laws of suffrage, the power will slide into the hands of the former.
No agrarian attempts have yet been made in in this Country, but symtoms, of a leveling spirit, as we have understood, have sufficiently appeared in a certain quarters to give notice of the future danger..."
16
posted on
10/14/2003 11:19:04 AM PDT
by
mrsmith
To: PeaceBeWithYou
'Thanks for that clarity' BUMP
17
posted on
10/14/2003 12:14:27 PM PDT
by
Pagey
(Hillary Rotten is a Smug, Holier - Than - Thou Socialist)
To: Tandem
Alexander Fraser Tytler 1748 - 1813 Scottish professor of history at Edinburgh University, a.k.a. Lord Woodhouselee, author of The Decline and Fall of the Athenian Republic (1776)
18
posted on
10/14/2003 12:28:44 PM PDT
by
ruoflaw
To: Tandem
SPOTREP
To: untenured; eyespysomething
I found this at Neal Boortz's site:
This is one of my favorites. From Alexander Tyler.----
Be very careful with this quote. I have seen it variously attributed to "Alexander Tytler," "Alexander Titus" and other similar combinations. ... If it was ever said, I'm not sure it was contemporaneously documented.
Hey this is the Internet. People misspell all the time. It is a hugh and series problem.
But:
"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse 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, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations 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 selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage."
-- Alexander Fraser Tytler (later Lord Alexander Fraser Woodhouslee), in The Decline and Fall of the Athenian Republic, published 1776.
20
posted on
10/14/2003 4:31:47 PM PDT
by
Oztrich Boy
("Conscience is the little voice inside of you that says someone might be watching" HL Mencken)
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