Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Amazing Quote

Gale added this amazing quote in a comment, of the previous post. It is eerily telling of where our country could lead. In 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor, 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."

Let us pray that we are still in the majority.

5 comments:

Darcy said...

When a governement collapses due to "bankruptcy," it doesn't necessarily become a dictatorship. Look at USSR... Right?

Tyler Bushman said...

He also said that nations progess in this way:

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.

It's amazing how we're seeing this all come about, and nobody cares.

Jen said...

Thank you Tyler!

And for those who claim "The world isn't going to END when Obama is elect." Think again!

Bray said...

It is of grave concern to me how our government has become 'the answer' for people and their problems. "I need education, I want to keep my house, I need cheap healthcare, I want free prescriptions," as if all these things were constitutional rights not privileges. Now our government has even forgotten what it's purpose is. The fact that the candidates are vying for our vote with all their fixes and handouts is evidence of that.

L said...

Remind me, what is the government's purpose again? I understand your concerns, they are viable ones, I have some of them too. Everybody does right now. But let's remember the dire times during the Great Depression, people were dying, losing everything they owned. What saved them? The New Deal.
What about now? These financial collapses have affected not just us, but the world as a whole. How many entities are large enough to help correct it? A handful, the good old US of A is one of them, and swallowing it is like giving birth to a 12 pound baby. Hard but necessary.
My grandparents survived losing everything in the Depression. Everything but a few clothes on their backs. Through much sacrifice and learning from their mistakes, they rebuilt and prospered. So will we.