John,

Great article!

When will the left wake up and smell the coffee.

Tim

-----Original Message-----
From: John Lee [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 11:07 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] OT: The cycle of democracy


I pass this along...I have not researched it for accuracy (other fires
burning), but it's interesting nonetheless and certainly fits into some
current OT discussions.

John Lee



>The Cycle of Democratic Republics.
>
>
>At about the time our original 13 states adopted their new constitution,
in
>the year 1787, Alexander Tyler (a Scottish history professor at The
University
>of Edinborough) had this to say about "The Fall of The Athenian Republic"
>some 2,000 years prior. "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 worlds 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."
>
>Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul,
>Minnesota, points out some interesting facts concerning the most recent
Presidential
>election:
>Population of counties won by:
>Gore = 127 million.
>Bush = 143 million.
>Square miles of land won by:
>Gore = 580,000
>Bush = 2,2427,000
>States won by:
>Gore = 19
>Bush = 29
>Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by:
>Gore = 13.2
>Bush = 2.1
>
>Professor Olson adds:
>"In aggregate, the map of the territory Bush won was mostly the land
owned
>by the tax-paying citizens of this great country. Gore's territory
encompassed
>those citizens living in government-owned tene ments and living off
government
>welfare..."
>
>Olson believes the U.S. is now somewhere between the "apathy" and
>"complacency" phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy; with
some 40 percent
>of the nation's population already having reached the "governmental
dependency"
>phase.
>

* To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, *
* etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *

* To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, *
* etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *