Posted on 01/08/2012 6:32:27 PM PST by Daffynition
I agree that it’s now or never. (Remember the Time magazine cover, “We’re all socialists, now.”)
I believe that Perry, or Gingrich or Santorum, will be better than any of the others. I just think Perry will “git ‘er done.”
“It is not, perhaps, unreasonable to conclude, that a pure and perfect democracy is a thing not attainable by man, constituted as he is of contending elements of vice and virtue, and ever mainly influenced by the predominant principle of self-interest. It may, indeed, be confidently asserted, that there never was that government called a republic, which was not ultimately ruled by a single will, and, therefore, (however bold may seem the paradox,) virtually and substantially a monarchy.”
Universal History, p. 216[1]
There are many variants circulating with various permutations of majority, voters, citizens, or public. Ronald Reagan is known to have used this in speeches:[3]
Perhaps what he had in mind was what Prof. Alexander Frazer Tytler has written, that a democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largesse out of the public treasury. From that moment on the majority, he said, always vote for the candidate promising the most benefits from the treasury with the result that democracy always collpases over a loose fiscal policy, always to be followed by a dictatorship. Unfortunately, we can’t argue with the professor because when he wrote that we were still colonials of Great Britain and he was explaining what had destroyed the Athenian Republic more than 2000 years before.
Other variants:
The American Republic will endure until politicians realize they can bribe the people with their own money.
The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.
From 1943 speech Industrial Management in a Republic[4] by H. W. Prentis, president of the Armstrong Cork Company and former president of the National Association of Manufacturers.
This quote sometimes appears joined with the above one, most notably as part of a longer piece which began circulating on the Internet shortly after the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election[5]:
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 that voters discover that 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 a 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;
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.
That line about the people and/or the politicians voting themselves money from others is from Alexander de Toqueville:”The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.”
So I call events like the debt ceiling and payroll tax bump “crises” “de Toqueville moments.”
http://wp.me/p1FiCk-30
http://wingright.org/2011/07/24/the-de-toqueville-moment-will-we-endure/
http://wingright.org/2011/08/03/more-de-toqueville-moments-yes-they-want-to-tax-and-spend/
(and this piece that likens libertarianism to nihilism and predicts the end of the Republic at the hand of objectivists and nihilists. http://wingright.org/2011/09/02/a-little-philosophy-a-lot-of-optimism/ )
There are times when our nation decides which way to tilt: Toward survival through personal responsibility or to take from our neighbors for our own comfort vs. going Galt and abandoning our communities altogether.
Would you believe “Alexis de Tocqueville?” (Fingers can’t spell, sometimes.)
Basically I agree, I don’t a single liubertarian that doesn’t bash Zero.
Unless you live in a high profile city, you do get to hide behind your keyboard, since your home would never be nuked by Iran or Sunni fundamentalists. As a New Yorker, I have no such luxury or protection.
* No Amnesty - The Obama Administration’s endorsement of so-called “Comprehensive Immigration Reform,” granting amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants, will only encourage more law-breaking.
Paul refuses to support any laws to expell illegals. That is an operational amnesty.
* Abolish the Welfare State – Taxpayers cannot continue to pay the high costs to sustain this powerful incentive for illegal immigration. As Milton Friedman famously said, you can’t have open borders and a welfare state.
All well and good, but it isn't going to happen anytime soon.You might as well posit a US with GDP/capita of $80,000 using year 2000 dollars and no year to year national debt.
* End Birthright Citizenship – As long as illegal immigrants know their children born here will be granted U.S. citizenship, we’ll never be able to control our immigration problem.
I agree 100%. But why hasn't Paul mentioned this?
* Protect Lawful Immigrants – As President, Ron Paul will encourage legal immigration by streamlining the entry process without rewarding lawbreakers.
We have far too many of those.
As long as our borders remain wide open, the security and safety of the American people are at stake.
And Paul doesn't actually want to secure our border lest we be East Germany.
Numbers USA does a good job of separating Ron Paul's campaign lies/rhetoric from votes.
Paul does not want a fence, he does not think a fence is a good idea. But other than the fence I’d bet you and he are in pretty much in agreement about how to secure the border.
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