| allhands.archive.0403 - Message 66 |
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| Norma J Ogle juneokc3 | Fw: HISTORY LESSON | Wed, 3 Mar 2004 23:23:21 -0600 |
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> Thought you'd find this interesting.
>
>
>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:
>
>Counties won:
>
>Gore = 677
>
>Bush = 2434
>
>Population of counties won by:
>
>Gore=127 million
>
>Bush=143 million
>
>Square miles of land won by:
>
>Gore=580,134
>
>Bush=2,427,039
>
>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 tenements 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.
>
>Pass this along.
>
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