How Long Do We Have?


About the time our original 13 states adopted their new constitution, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, 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 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:
1. From bondage to spiritual faith;
2. From spiritual faith to great courage;
3. From courage to liberty;
4. From liberty to abundance;
5. From abundance to complacency;
6. From complacency to apathy;
7. From apathy to dependence;
8. From dependence back into bondage "
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~

Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul,
Minnesota, points out some interesting facts concerning the 2000 Presidential election:
1. Population of counties won by: Gore: 127 million; Bush: 143 million;
2. Square miles of land won by: Gore: 580,000; Bush: 2,427,000;
3. States won by: Gore: 19 Bush: 29
4. 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'* territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements living off government welfare."

Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the "complacency & apathy" phase of Professor Tyler'* definition of democracy, with some 40 percent of the nation'* population already having reached the "governmental dependency" phase.

Pass this along to help everyone realize just how much is at stake, knowing that apathy is the greatest danger to our freedom.

The territory Gore won was not just "government-owned tenements living off government welfare". A lot of it was mostly urban / suburban areas, with homeowners and landowners included.

Someone emailed this to me and I don't really know what I think about it so I figured I would share it with you all to see what you think about it.

Yeah, that'* what I was thinking. Same happened in the recent Canadian election. Massive, nearly unanimous support (seat-wise) for one party from the urban centres (Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver), but the winning party was voted in by the rural vote.

I think it'* a rather inconsequential coincidence. Sounds like nothing more than a conspiricy theory to me.

As for apathy ... it can be resident anywhere, whether it'* urban or rural.

Not to knock your post SSE14U24ME cause I know you didn't write this, I just like to criticize.

I guess I don't understand where the apothy really comes into that. I mean even if a majority of Gore'* voters did come from goverment-funded housing and what not, these people are voting. I think that by definition makes them not apothetic.
As far as when the US might fall as the world power, I don't know. They say it will happen, all great societies before us have fallen. But, I think we're miles away from those societies now. Sure, we're not perfect, and we're not totally removed from being the "big bad" as far as keeping our power by force, but it'* not the only means we have. The fact is the world more interelated now, and that what makes our civilization now different. At least thats what I think...

Eh, we're falling into it. Freedoms are never taken away all at once, they're chipped away at slowly, so each generation doesn't notice. They're taken away in the name of protecting the children, making things fair, or trying not to offend anyone.

Bah. Know your enemy of freedom, most people don't.