Democracy

rskarvan

The following quote comes from Professor Alexander Tyler in Cycle of Democracy, which appeared about 1770.

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largess from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority votes for the candidates promising them the most benefits from the public treasury."
"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 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 dependence; from dependence back again into bondage."

neomagus00

an interesting relevant slashdot post: http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=235775&cid=19234579

it's instructive to read about the histories of various world powers (from mesopotamia to feudal japan) and how they relate to the current major national powers... a defining characteristic that precedes the fall of almost every superpower through history is a combination of bad money management, corrupt upper government, a deepening gulf between the rich and the poor, and, oddly enough, the tendency to cater to minority elements (rome legalised the practise of christianity in 313, and was invaded by the celts in 390...)

and you thought the study of history was pointless... we are all doomed to repeat the mistakes of our predecessors, unless we learn from them instead...

jdhdiggs

I would say a good majority of the population are at the apathy bordering on dependence stages and I would definately admit that there are some large segments of the population voting for only one party due to what they can get from the government.


I hope anyone planning to vote understands your post and then investigates the candidates platforms. I, for one, don't want to see the populace of our country become dependent on the government for everything and I certainly don't want our government capping the acheivement of individuals. It is bad enough that our government already rewards failure and punishes success. We are vey close to an environment where success would be impossible for any individual to acheive without the government.

What I see as the cause is once you write a law where a majority of the population get direct financial benifits through income redistribution, it is impossible to repeal. Think about it- We made it through a century plus with no social security, now if we try to eliminate it or even cut back, what would happen? Welfare? Government housing? Education? Medicare/Medicade? Farm subsidies? etc... And soon (hopefully not) healthcare. Pretty soon you won't be able to wipe your **** without the government issuing you the TP and have someone there to oversee your dingleberry release program.