About the time our original thirteen state adopted their new constitution in 1787, 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 earlier:
“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 vote 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 world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years.”
“During those 200 years, those 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”
I totally said that too…only mine was like 10 years ago and with less pretty words.
I fully believe that the America that we all know and find comfort in, will not exist by the end of my lifetime.
i just found that somewhere…didn’t write a lick of it. anyway…i’m with you…i think within our lifetimes some big things will happen. i think this country is settling into step 8 in that sequence.
I’ve read similar things, specifically about the Roman empire. I remember something about moral decline and increasing dependence on the government to see to needs that should be privately met leading to the downfall of the system.
Despite all that, ABC’s candidate-matching widget told me that I most agree with Barak Obama. Go figure.
This topic’s been kind of on my mind around the election, and even more since Leo brought it up.
This is the passage I read last night in Job that seemed to fit the topic (Job 12:16-25):
16 To him belong strength and victory;
both deceived and deceiver are his.
17 He leads counselors away stripped
and makes fools of judges.
18 He takes off the shackles put on by kings
and ties a loincloth [b] around their waist.
19 He leads priests away stripped
and overthrows men long established.
20 He silences the lips of trusted advisers
and takes away the discernment of elders.
21 He pours contempt on nobles
and disarms the mighty.
22 He reveals the deep things of darkness
and brings deep shadows into the light.
23 He makes nations great, and destroys them;
he enlarges nations, and disperses them.
24 He deprives the leaders of the earth of their reason;
he sends them wandering through a trackless waste.
25 They grope in darkness with no light;
he makes them stagger like drunkards.
What’s my username and password? I can’t log in.
Seems this quote can’t reliably be attributed to that scottish guy at that time, but I find its message to make a lot of sense regardless. Snopes.com etc.
Jacob, great bit of relevant-to-topic scripture there.
I like that quote, and I didn’t know Job had internet access back then. I guess the over all message of this topic should be that in an unsteady world that faith in God not men is the only way to true peace.