Words of Warning

[MadMax]

When the thirteen colonies were still a part of England, Professor Alexander Tyler, a Scottish historian, wrote about the fall of the Athenian Republic over 2000 years earlier. He said:

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves money from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's great civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith; from spirtiual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependency; from dependency back to bondage.

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[outlaw]

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves money from the public treasury.

You could argue that people are doing this by voting for Bush's tax cut.

[CriscoKidd]

geez, what a depressing post Max.



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There are 3 kinds of lies:

lies, lies, and heypeeisms.

-DrofDunkingDonuts

[BobFinn*]

See the Great Roman Empire. Will history be repeated?

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In order to be a success in life, you need 2 things:
1. Don't tell everything you know.

[rimbaud]

Max,

I am actually a believer that any time a government of any kind gets to be a certain size, it is only a matter of time before it loses its functionality.

Being a democracy just exacerbates the problem. That is why we do not have anything close to a real democracy - it simply is impossible on this large of a scale.

Anyway, I'll try to say a little more on the issue later...

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Talking to a dead hare about art

[JuanValdez]

Max, I though you were diehard republican. I'm surprised to see you point this out. Or is this an argument that only the propertied should vote?

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Rockets Draft Obligations Summary

http://www.gaffordstudios.cjb.net/

[Achebe]

Exactly Juan, that's why I favor Plato...

People are too stupid to rule themselves. Luckily for me, I can still vote my heart w/ that synopsis.

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"Everyone I know has a big but...

come on Simone, let's talk about your but."

I've seen this quote on a bunch of conservative websites the past few months. Was it in this year's Republican Handbook or something?

Anyway, fun as it is, it's veracity has been called into question by scholars who think its a fraud.

Check it out here: http://www.suncreations.com/steve/tytler_quote.html

[DREAMer]

MadMax,

I totally agree. The only problem is that our form of government is a REPUBLIC not a democracy.

Are there any cool old sayings about republics?

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I have a dream.........his name's Hakeem.
DREAMer's Rocket Page

[MadMax]

Agreed DREAMer!! I'm very happy we're a republican democracy!!! The Framers were brilliant in protecting against "mob" rule, in my humble opinion.

Juan -- I am a Republican...really more of a conservative than a Republican. I know you may think those are synonomous (spelling?) but they're not always. In many ways I'm libertarian...but at the same time I feel like laws are a reflection of what a society values...so that's at conflict. You could argue that the statement in there about voting for the person who would give voters money works against Bush or Gore. With Gore, it's returned in programs and requires some hoops to jump through. With Bush, a bit is given back in a tax cut. I don't think Bush's tax cut is significant enough to say it will ruin the nation, however. And I don't see returning money to the taxpayers as an expense, especially if there's a surplus. In fact, I question this sort of "retained earnings" mentality that govt seems to have developed. Again..just my opinion. But I am concerned with a government that can't say no to any program! The best example is locally with our Mayor. When was the last time this guy was against spending money on something? He's for the arena (I am too!), he's for rail, he's for the port expansion, he's for the new county courthouse, he's for the Olympics...there is absolutely no fiscal responsibility in the man's soul!! You can't be all things to all people. Great leaders recognize that and set priorities.

As for the validity of the quote I posted...I have no idea if it's valid or not. I have no idea who that historian even is. I just thought it was interesting.

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