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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 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.


Hajji, you can run, but why die tired?

_________________
\"Those who hammer their guns into plows
will plow for those who do not.\"
- Thomas Jefferson

reminds me of an article I read once called 'The Economic Decline of Nations' by a man named Chipolla I believe it was. This short snippet was balls on and if anyone thinks that this great nation of ours is going to stand another 200 years; although I would love to jump on that wagon, I cant.

By this time tomorrow I shall have gained either a pearage or Westminster Abbey........Nelson

_________________
YGBSM !

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>if anyone thinks that this great nation of ours is going to stand another 200 years; although I would love to jump on that wagon, I cant. <hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>

and the Democratic response would be: "so we better get ours while we can" <img src=newicons/Whatever_anim.gif border=0 align=middle>

"We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would harm us". George Orwell

Fighting For Justice With Brains Of Steel !
<img src="http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/atengun2X.GIF" border=0>

_________________
The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.

Harump !

By this time tomorrow I shall have gained either a pearage or Westminster Abbey........Nelson

_________________
YGBSM !

Odd that it was under Clinton that welfare was reformed

Could count on Slick to jump on the other side's position and steal as his own ;-

Edited by - viperttb on Feb 02 2004 12:14 PM

Welfare reformed?

LOL...please.

I happen to agree with the author wholeheartedly.

We're in what i call the pre-socailism stage now.

<img src="http://www.worldaffairsboard.com/sigs/snipersig.jpg " border=0>

Clinton only signed the reform bill to get re-elected, remember he said he would "fix it" after the election! slimeball.

"We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would harm us". George Orwell

Fighting For Justice With Brains Of Steel !
<img src="http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/atengun2X.GIF" border=0>

_________________
The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.

As far as the original post check out

http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/tyler.asp


Edited by - viperttb on Feb 02 2004 8:29 PM

OK, so i agree with the author that made the quotes up anyway, lol.

Freedom and bondage are opposite ends of the political pendulum swinging to and fro.

<img src="http://www.worldaffairsboard.com/sigs/snipersig.jpg " border=0>

Whoever made it up should have taken credit for them. I would have thought he was cool.

He is not only dull himself, but the cause of dullness in others. --Samuel Johnson, LL.D