"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 candidate promising the most from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.
The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been two hundred 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 complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependence back again into bondage."
Penned by Professor Alexander Tytler over 200 years ago
2000 years ago Plato similarly said that democracy always turns into tyranny. And, considering he Greek city states, that appears to be true.
ReplyDeleteAmerica seems to be in the abundance/complacency period of our history.
We appear to be rapidly closing in on the dependency phase. I heard recently that about 44 million Americans are now part of the federal food stamp nutrition assistance program. That works out to about one in eight Americans. The average benefit is around $130 per person, per month -- with a federal cost approaching $40 billion a year.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure it's better than a poke in the eye for those who actually need it, but all this federal dependence doesn't suggest a very sustainable trajectory for our nation. Maybe when all of this fails, it will finally be time to remember the Living God. We seem to want to try everything else first though.