Thread: How Long Do We Have?

Subject: How Long Do We Have?


The Life Span of a Republic...

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 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:

Population of counties won by: Gore: 127 million; Bush: 143 million;

Square miles of land won by: Gore: 580,000; Bush: 2,427,000

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 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's definition of democracy, with some 40 percent of the nation's population already having reached the "governmental dependency" phase.

Interesting post Pinestrawguys. Do you have a link to this information?

Perhaps our founding fathers were thinking along those lines when they decided to make the United States of America a republic, not a democracy. A democracy is mob rule and a tyranny of the majority.

It still is scary reading something like that because you can see it happening right before your eyes, no matter what word you use.

Just today I read somewhere on the net that both Phyllis Schlafly and Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said we are one step away from a dictatorship. Maybe I read it here.

No I dont think it was here Darlene, but I read the same thing.

If you read the same thing jp, then I know now where I read it. :P

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said we are one step away from a dictatorship.

I wondered why O'Connor stepped down. I figured it had something to do with crooked politics. She had some sort of shindig here not long ago. I wish I'd gone to hear what she had to say.

Here is one place that remarks about it.

http://www.sfgate.com

Very interesting JP. I will definitely go see her if I get a chance again. I hate hobnobbing with the bigwigs in this town but sometimes it is necessary.

Originally Posted by Darlene

It still is scary reading something like that because you can see it happening right before your eyes, no matter what word you use.

It's more than just a different word. There is a big difference between a democracy and a constitutionally limited republic. Democracy is what Tyler was writing about if you read the quote. He said, "democracy," not republic. He used the word, "democracy," for a reason. He was referring to democracy as a form of government along the lines of the ancient Greeks. Our founding fathers hated democracies such as the ancient Greek type. If you do some research you'll find that the founding fathers did not want this country to be a democracy. They wanted it to be a republic.

http://www.serendipity.li/jsmill/baska01.htm

"A Constitutional Republic is similar to democracy in that it uses democratic processes to elect representatives and pass new laws, etc. The critical difference lies in the fact that a Constitutional Republic has a Constitution that limits the powers of the government. It also spells out how the government is structured, creating checks on its power and balancing power between different branches."

Part of the problem is that this country is devolving into a democracy - the tyranny of the majority, i.e. mob rule. Then a demagogue who can con the populace can become a tyrant just as sure as any monarch.

Our current president is not abiding by the Constitution. Thus he is exercising more power than he is supposed to have and at the same time he is ignoring some of his duties as executive of the federal government to protect the states from invasion, such as the invasion we are currently experiencing from our southern border. He is a horrible president and the sooner we are shed of him the better!!