I thought I would share an interesting e-mail I received from a friend of mine. I am not sure how much I buy into it but it appears there is at least some truth to what I am about to share. It is entitled, "How long do we have?"
"About the time our original 13 states 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. 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, 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.
Professor Joseph Olson of Hemline University School of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota, points out some interesting facts concerning the 2000 Presidential election:
Number of states won by:
Gore: 19
Bush: 29
Square miles of land won by:
Gore: 580,000
Bush: 2,427,000
Population of counties won by:
Gore: 127 million
Bush: 143 million
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 taxpaying citizens of the US. Gore's territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off various forms of governmental welfare..." Olson believes that the US is now somewhere between the complacency and apathy phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy, with some forty percent of the nations population already having reached the governmental dependency phase.
If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to 20 million criminal invaders called illegal immigrants and they vote, then we can say goodbye to the USA in fewer than five years.
Well, I'm not sure what to make of these figures, besides the fact that they don't take into account the theft of the elections they mention.
However, on civilisations ending:
You'll see a tendency for a civilisation to end when it starts using foreign troops to fight their battles.
From the Hellenian empire (following Alexander the Great) to the Roman empire, from the Arabian empire(s) from 700-1100 to the English empire.
It seems that as an empire expands it needs to use "recruits" or "units" from foreign soils to fight their battles, and that's when it all turns sour.
The reasons behind it are complex, from a shift of power from democracy to military generals (the army becoming ever more powerful, due to its role in mainting the empire), the out-sourcing of productive soil, the tax burdons on peasants (to fund the army, which is becoming ever more powerful), etc.
So, to see how long the US will last, one of the barometers to use is measuring how many "foreigners" are fighting for them.
Iraqi police, Israeli army?, Local forces in various countries? Mercenaries?
Funny old thing history. It keeps repeating itself.
Originally posted by whodeyOlson states that some 63 million US citizens are living on welfare in government tenements?
Professor Olson adds: "In aggregate, the map of the territory Bush won was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of the US. Gore's territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off various forms of governmental welfare..."
Originally posted by Sleepyguyand who wants to spend more than Obama?
There is a Snopes.com entry on this e-mail and there are apparently a lot of problems with it.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/tyler.asp
Still, the fall of our republic due to our "leaders" inability to control spending does not seem far fetched to me at all.
Originally posted by NimzovichLarsenPrecisely the point, though McCain's ridiculous proposal to buy up bad mortgages and adjust the principal downwards for everyone smacks of the same mentality. He says "Is it expensive? Yes, but ..." and away we go. Neither of these geniuses seems to grasp the idea that its not the government's job to guarantee everyone a rosy life. There is a point at which other countries are going to to stop wanting to buy the debt we must sell in order to finance the effort to let no American endure any hardship. I don't know when that point will come, but at the rate we're going it can't be too far off.
and who wants to spend more than Obama?
Originally posted by whodeyThe only problem I have with your story is regarding the number of people who receive some form of federal payment: it is too low; in fact, I suspect that it is now over 50 percent, so there is no turning back (Hello, dictatorship!).
I thought I would share an interesting e-mail I received from a friend of mine. I am not sure how much I buy into it but it appears there is at least some truth to what I am about to share. It is entitled, "How long do we have?"
"About the time our original 13 states adopted their new constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at ...[text shortened]... immigrants and they vote, then we can say goodbye to the USA in fewer than five years.
Originally posted by der schwarze RitterCertainly. Especially if you include all of the corporate welfare that is given out by the republicans.
The only problem I have with your story is regarding the number of people who receive some form of federal payment: it is too low; in fact, I suspect that it is now over 50 percent, so there is no turning back (Hello, dictatorship!).
Originally posted by whodeyHow do you see this as evidence that the US is going through the sequence above?
Number of states won by:
Gore: 19
Bush: 29
Square miles of land won by:
Gore: 580,000
Bush: 2,427,000
Population of counties won by:
Gore: 127 million
Bush: 143 million
Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by:
Gore: 13.2
Bush: 2.1
Originally posted by whodeyThat only adds up to 48 states... Or are you not counting Florida as a win for either?
I thought I would share an interesting e-mail I received from a friend of mine. I am not sure how much I buy into it but it appears there is at least some truth to what I am about to share. It is entitled, "How long do we have?"
"About the time our original 13 states adopted their new constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at ...[text shortened]... immigrants and they vote, then we can say goodbye to the USA in fewer than five years.
Originally posted by Bosse de NageWell, historically democracies tend not to last too long as the article points out. In addition, the US democracy appears now to be teetering. These facts indicate the article is on to something.....unfortunately.
How much do you buy into it?
How much truth is there to it?
The things I have questions about is the data about Bush and Gore. First of all, are the facts accurate and are they of significance? If you ask me, the votes for Bush should have landed us somewhere down on the scale to dependence/bondage if you ask me. I think the article is a bit antiquated in this respect and I suspect in was written 4+ years ago.
Originally posted by PalynkaI think what the author was trying to point out is that we are in the complacency to apathy stage. We still do not have the votes to turn completely apathetic, thereby, allowing the likes of Gore and company to lead us to dependence via things like increased entitlement programs etc., however, we are dangerously near this based upon the support currently out there for them. But as I have pointed out, Bush should be seen just as bad if not worse in this regard. I suppose one could argue that we were sold a bag of goods in thinking that he was more conservative than liberal fiscally.
How do you see this as evidence that the US is going through the sequence above?