Progression of democracy

[TexasF355F1]

I found this somwhat interesting. Got it in an email so I'm not sure where it comes from. The ways of progression are pretty interesting. Anyways, something a little different to look at
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At about the time our original 13 states adopted their new constitution in 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 over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship."



"The average age of the world's 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 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;

by Bush, 143 million;



Square miles of land won:



by Gore, 580,000;

by Bush, 2,427,000;



States won:



by Gore, 19;

by Bush, 29;



Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won:



by Gore, 13.2;

by 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 tenements and living off government welfare..."

Olson believes the U.S.is now somewhere between the "apathy" and the "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.

[YogsVR4]

Its very true that the working people support the lazy (and the few who actually need it). Most of the urban centers have become sinkholes because people who live there cannot afford it. The democrats love to put restrictions and zoning laws in place to try and keep the status quo but the population keeps rising. No housing can be built as the land is already owned or built on. Supply is short. Demand is high. Prices skyrocket. Now the rest of the country has to subsidize their housing because they cant afford it.


Eventually the number of people sucking on public funding while contributing nothing to it will reach a boiling point. At that point there will be a major depression. I don't think this is going to happen anytime soon, but probably before the end of the century. The economic growth in this country can be unlimited if only goverment would stop using it to support every program that comes its way.

Over 2 trillion dollars this year alone for social programs. (The budget was close to 2.4 trillion but take out defense and debt intrest and its just below 2 trillion). That 2,000,000,000,000 doesn't include the hundreds of billions that each state collects in taxes. Thats a fuckload of money. And the lazy still cry for more.

[justacruiser]

Yup, welcome to the welfare state, where the 'poor' get lazier and the working class gets robbed for it.

Here's an interesting, yet VERY scary read:

http://www.hf.caltech.edu/hf/b3/scenarios/bcm.html


pretty crazy shit there.

[MagicRat]

This touches on one point I and many others have considered: When will the US enter into a state of decline? It is inevitable it will, at some point.
In AD 100, the Roman empire looked like a colossus that ruled the world. Its infrastructure collapsed over time and was largely gone 200 years later.

The Spanish empire ruled much of the world in the 16th century and declined when their military spending became dependent on plundering gold from the New World, instead of building a strong economy at home.

The British ruled over vast territories and populations in the 19th century and spent all their capital fighting 20th century European wars.

The US looks like a collossus now. Will Bush spend the country into poverty foreign wars (there are several from which to choose) or send all those dollars to the moon?

My point here is nothing lasts forever, but I hope our politicians are wise enough to maintain our prosperity for as long as possible.