"At about the time our original 13 states adopted their new constitution in 1787, a Scottish history professor by the name of Professor Alexander Tyler had this to say about "The Fall of the Athenian Republic" over 2,000 years previous to that date:

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse (generous gifts) from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship."

"The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through this sequence:"

>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.

Having read what Professor Tyler had to say, now read the following and see what Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota, wrote about the 2000 Presidential election between Al Gore and George Bush.

Population of counties won by Gore 127 million -- by Bush 143 million

Square miles of country won by Gore 580,000 -- by Bush 2,427,000.

States won by Gore 19 -- by Bush 29.

Murder per 100,000 residents in counties won by Gore 13.2 -- by Bush 2.1(not a typo).

Professor Olson adds: "The map of the territory Bush won was (mostly) the land owned by the people of this great country. NOT the citizens living in cities in tenements owned by the government and living off the government."

Professor Olson thinks the US is now between the apathy and complacency phase of democracy although he believes that 40 percent of the nation's population has already reached the dependency phase...

The U.S. is not a democracy.

quote:

Originally posted by Yellow Jacket:
The U.S. is not a democracy.

It is a Republic, but that look like the road we're walking.

quote:

Originally posted by Hamden106:...Professor Olson thinks the US is now between the apathy and complacency phase of democracy although he believes that 40 percent of the nation's population has already reached the dependency phase...

Maybe related.

The distribution of individual fed income tax in the US (not business) indicates the top 50% pay ~98% of the taxes, meaning the bottom 50% pay ~2% of the taxes. This would support the view that 40% of the population are dependent.

The problem I have is not the dependency, the Lord tells us to take care of those in need. The problem I have is how many of the "dependent" demand their "right" to eat from their neighbors garden. And related, politicians who enforce that supposed right, ie, they rob Peter to pay Paul, to get votes from Paul. But, such politicians pay themselves first, Paul gets the leftovers.

The end result is the safety net becomes a hammock which then becomes a straight jacket - ie the dependent are in bondage to a self-serving gov't.

quote:

the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury

Democracy or Republic, this applies the same

In America all of this started with the FDR presidency. Before that the federal government had very little impact on the lives of the average American and there were practically no federal handouts to anyone. After Roosevelt's election it was a whole new world. Principled politicians soon found out that if they didn't promise the people handouts they were soon out of office. Candidate A says that he's giving farm subsidies and relief to us but candidate B says it's unconstitutional and he can't give anything! Guess who gets elected? This changed the political climate and America for the worse like few things ever have.

quote:

Originally posted by sigspecops:
In America all of this started with the FDR presidency. Before that the federal government had very little impact on the lives of the average American and there were practically no federal handouts to anyone. After Roosevelt's election it was a whole new world. Principled politicians soon found out that if they didn't promise the people handouts they were soon out of office. Candidate A says that he's giving farm subsidies and relief to us but candidate B says it's unconstitutional and he can't give anything! Guess who gets elected? This changed the political climate and America for the worse like few things ever have.

I read a quote from a senior US senator, who was from those days, along the lines of "politics has nothing to do with right and wrong, it has only to do with power". To me that seems quite fitting in today's politics.