Recently, I was looking for a quote whose author escaped me. My friend, Edwin Gravitt, came to the rescue with the following, which, prophetically, was written in 1776, the year of our nation's birth.
Reflecting on its contents, several questions came to mind. We are 226 years old and counting. In the scheme of things outlined....the evolution and decline of democracies.....where do we stand on the time line? Does it HAVE to happen this way, or can a nation renew itself? If so, how?
Read it and see what YOU think.
" 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 them the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over a 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 dependence;
From dependence back into bondage."
-- Alexander Fraser Tyler, Scottish economist, 1776
Ó2002 Dave Nelson