Posted on 10/20/2010 7:26:35 AM PDT by Stand Watch Listen
Alexander Tytler (1747-1813) was a Scottish-born English lawyer and historian. Reportedly, Tytler was critical of democracies, pointing to the history of democracies such as Athens and its flaws, cycles, and ultimate failures. Although the authenticity of his following quote is often disputed, the words have eerie relevance today:
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 voters discover 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 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;Tytler's Cycle and the U.S.• 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 to bondage.
In looking at American history, we can see Tytler's sequence in action. In 1620, the Pilgrims sailed to America to escape the religious bondage imposed by the Church of England. Their spiritual faith carried them to the new world.
Because of their deep faith, the Pilgrims left England in spite of the high percentage of deaths incurred by earlier American settlements. For example, when Jamestown, Virginia, was founded in 1607, 70 of the 108 settlers died in the first year. The following winter only 60 of 500 new settlers lived................................."
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Me too.
I don’t visualize any scenario in which this country can unite other than a situational, temporary event, such as 9-11. The 50-state entity that nominally comprises the nation now is already fractured; the new lines just haven’t been demarcated yet.
Churchill (possibly quoting Ben Franklin) said: “Democracy is two wolves and lamb voting on what to have for lunch.”
We need a Republic, that guarantees a person and his property can not be seized illegally. Its that simple.
We ARE a Republic, the MSM and others are always saying we are a Democracy and make you defend the difference
I agree. The 50 state union is over. I don’t think anyone really knows what this thing is going to look like in the end, but a powerful, debt-ridden central government imposing its will on 50 sovereign states doesn’t seem like our future.
Property seizure (for commercial development), that became a valid concern with the Souter SCOTUS decision.
For decades, a state of Califonication osmosis in the Western half of the USA has splintered this nation. While Massachusette/New York has also spread their unique form of entitlements, oppressive taxes in the Eastern half of the USA.
Didn't you get O’Bama’s memo? There are 57 states
“... the new lines just haven’t been demarcated yet.”
About a year or so ago I read about an ex KGB agent who predicted that by the end of 2010, America would collapse socially and the end result would be splitting up the lower 48 into three sections.
I scoffed at it at the time. Not now.
Our founders in their wisdom left us a Republic not a Democracy. Huge difference. Now its up to us to keep it that way.
“I scoffed at it at the time. Not now.”
In the early 1960s, if anyone said “other than Zurich, where can I put my money?,” lots of folks quickly said “Beirut...you’ll love it. Sophisticated, cosmopolitan, safe.” Ten years later, Beirut looked like the surface of the moon. In the 1970s, if anyone said, “where’s a friendly, inexpensive place to vacation in Europe?,” lots of folks quickly said “Yugoslavia...you’ll love it. Wonderfully diverse culture, friendly people, great weather.” Ten years later, it was a killing ground surpassed only by Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge.
Don’t doubt it for a moment. It CAN happen here.
That's because of the high turnover rate/frequent elections of our leadership. The Supreme Court is the most stable, corruption-free, and conservative branch of the federal government because the judges are appointed for life, like a king. If we were to build a man-made island country for real Americans to escape to, a kingdom/republic hybrid is probably the way to go, where the elected representatives only job is to replace the kings as they retire. If the kings went 5/4 to the dark side, simply move to another man-made island once in your lifetime and be done with it.
election of a king didn’t work too well for Poland...
Interesting, thanks.
I didn't know that. I did a search and found an interesting wiki on elective monarchy. Alexander Hamilton wanted America to be a elective monachy, but the memories of England's king were too fresh. What I'm suggesting is having a 9 king executive branch like the Supreme Court, where executive decisions are voted on. The main problem with one king is they get rich and try to pass power to their sons, then ineptness and inbreeding does the kingdom in, for example England.
you’ll have the same problems with elected monarchs that you have now with elected Senators...
If senators were elected for life they wouldn’t have to give away the store every 6 years, a source of major corruption. Another problem is so many public servants get rich while serving. We need to address that. I haven’t heard that Supreme Court judges get rich. The ethics seem to be much higher.
Money coming from lobbyists, representing ‘entities’ that do not have the local/state’s interests in view.
Did you see the post about the congressman who had collected lots of money from lots of donors, but only one ... count’em one ... donor was from his district!?
Did you see the post about the congressman who had collected lots of money from lots of donors, but only one ... count’em one ... donor was from his district!?
That 'trend' seemed to start , or rather became most obvious, during the Clinton/Gore adminstration. Clinton with his Chinese connections, Gore with his Occidential/Russion connections.
The Obama 2007/2008 foreign fund raising gave "selling your souls to the devil" a new broad, draconian meaning. The resulting severe punishment is now being dealt upon the American populace.
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