My smarty pants dad brought this qoute to my attention. For those of you who are also angered at ALL of our politicians by the recent financial crisis and bailout, you will find this tid bit interesting:
"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majorityalways votes for the candidates promising the most benifits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: "From bondage to spritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishnes to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage."
-Alexander Fraser Tytler,
from The Decline and Fall of the Athenian Republic,
published in 1776
"All dreaded it, all sought to avert it... and the war came."
-Abraham Lincoln
Tell me what you think...
3 comments:
Wow! Isn't that the saddest truth? Kind of reminds you of all the Book of Mormon stories, huh? I guess we'd all better get prepared. bummer. But, kind of exciting at the same time. Hope you're having fun in Texas. See ya soon...love ya!
very interesting quote! definitely made me think...i'm so annoyed with this election...i have no clue who to vote for...i think we are definitely seeing the last days and it makes me want to do better and be better...thanks for posting this Jess!:)
American's have always been the superpower and most of today's voters don't realize what that takes - its not something that just happens. Each generation must prove themselves. Europe was once a superpower too and fell into the sequence you posted by Alexander Tytler. It will be interesting to see what happens to the USA in our lifetime - where will America sit in the global picture with the rise of India and China? I like this speech and think it's worth reading even if you don't like it's author. The link is http://thepage.time.com/transcript-of-romneys-speech-withdrawing-from-the-race/
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