How Long Do We Have?

[Jst1mr]

About the time our original thirteen 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 2000 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 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 world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, those 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.

Where do you think we stand?

 

[perrazi]

for the libtards,betweem 6 and 7. for everyone else, it sort of depends on where you live and your skills.

 

[pharmer]

We're about a 7, although the dependence has been forced on the productive. Joe

 

[cowboy117]

9?---------------

 

[delta-419]

Level 8, very, very, soon.

 

[photoman]

I thought the United States was a representative republic?

 

[jrm53]

Some one and I cant remember who said this, stated the Republic would last until the pols and the public figured out that they could vote themselves money from the treasury, INMHO we are there now. Jeff

 

[Harrison]

Well Obama does have his own stash to give to people who vote for him. Right now he seems to be a little angry with the Gulf States, all he is giving us is a hard time. I guess its pay back for not voting for him last election.
I put us at about a 7.

 

[FlYFiShErMaN]

Number six sliding into seven.
Bob

If the right votes do not show up in Nov.....I would CONCUR with the above

 

[charlie sherrill]

Close to a 7. Go to the poles in November and stop some of this insanity.

 

[Engineer1911]

The November '10 elections can stop the madness. I have a dream: Nancy, Barney and 433 new congress critters.

November '12 elections could be the epic center for chaos and real change. After working 16 months in the 'Big Box' electrical department, I don't think the 'over 50 crowd' can carry the day. I'm terrified that 18- to 30-year olds are the great hope for this country. Respect for knowledge, education, and analysis skills are missing. Don't tell me how to do it -- just do it for me and for free.

We are at 7 with the voting majority looking for more handouts. Do you like 72% income tax on IRA/401k funds when withdrawn?

 

[GatorFarmer]

We're actually closer to an oligarchy than anything else, much as the Roman Republic was. The same families intermarry, and people who go to the same basic Ivy League schools and know one another form most of the "ruling" class these days. There are exceptions, but an awful lot of recent Presidents went to Yale or Harvard.

Anyway, assuming that the immigration mess doesn't become a civil war (which it might), then in about thirty or forty years when China does something or another, we send carriers and the Chinese sink them all and win the war, expect either states to break away or regional republics to form, or else the installation of a military government for stability - though still one picked by the oligarchy.

 

[bwickens]

Someone, I think it was Ben Franklin, said "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for dinner. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote."
I would put us at 7 sliding into 8, but I'm in Illinois where robbing Peter to pay Paul has been developed to such a high art form, most of the "Peter"s vote believing that they are "Paul"s. Illinois just surpassed Iceland on the list of governments likely to go bankrupt. That puts us at No.8... In the world.

 

[The Last Standing Knight]

Remember that dictators are often first elected democratically.

 

[USAF385]

That depends on what news and "political opinion" shows you watch.

 

[Alk8944]

And if enough of us get sore enough we can throw the robbers from office. The problem is the foxes are minding the hen-house, and we keep electing more foxes. Maybe it's time to go fox hunting.

Back to the thread though. I would say an very late 6 to early to mid 7.

 

[beemerphile]

When the news is more concerned about Where LeBron dribbles a ball and what's on Lindsay's fingernail than it is about a government that is stealing our present and mortgaging our future, then their scheme of bread and circuses is working and we are all dimwits. Give 'em a new iPhone to diddle with and keep on robbing them.

They'll never know it.

 

[M&P777]

We're at a 7. And it's enough to make a grown man cry - or go out & buy another gun & some more ammunition, & maybe another gun. (Why is it that political discussions like this tend to make me feel justified in another firearms purchase? Man, politics is expensive.)

 

[rocketdog]

Where do you think we stand?

Knee deep in internet fertilizer.

snopes.com: The Fall of the Athenian Republic

 

[Frailer]

Oops. I see someone else beat me to the Snopes link.

But why let facts get in the way of a good-old political whine session?