We don’t have a constitutional Republic anymore and they can openly admit it without fear of reprisal.
“When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.”
— Benjamin Franklin
“When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.” — Benjamin Franklin
"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." --Alexander Tyler’s views of the Athenian Republic
What have we learned in 2,064 years?
"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance." -- Cicero ( 55 BC)
So, evidently nothing..
We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form into teams, we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing. And what a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.
Gaius Petronius Arbiter
Citizen Of Rome
First Century A.D.
Some things just never change...
Regards,
GtG