Sounds a little bit like the Democrats

[Danindetroit]

At about the time our original 13 states adopted their new constitution, in the year 1787, Alexander Tyler (a Scottish history professor at The University of Edinborough) had this to say about "The Fall of the Athenian Republic" some 2,000 years prior.

"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 that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public 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 worlds greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following 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."

For all this you need to vote for John Kerry November 2nd.

I wonder why he wants all are guns? I wonder why he promises jobs, Health Care. It started with the New Deal.

I wonder where we are at complacency?,apathy?, with this next election I am nervous we might be very close to dependence.

The Constitution means what it means. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It doesn't promise happiness but that you can pursue it without undue interferance from the government. Everybody always tries to fudge the admendmentments to mean whatever their agenda is. The most important part is the part above. The rights of the individual are more important than the rights of the state. People think that the constitution gives us are rights, it does not, it LIMITS what the state can do. For about the last 100 years the constitution has been trampled. Maybe instead of the 10 commandments in public buildings we should have the constituion. You will have only the rights you are able to defend.

A libertarian who will vote for Bush. Lower taxes and starve the government to reasonablness.

 

[Charley]

That is so "on the money". Recently, I heard someone use the "learn from history" mantra, "lest we are doomed to repeat it." Then they tried to present the lessons of Vietnam. (They were largely inaccurate, but that is another story). There are, of course, lessons learned from Vietnam. But my point is that young people in particular seem blind to any other lessons from any other war or from the history of human civilization. The appeasement policies of Kerry are comparable to those of European countires during Hitler's expansion prior to the World War, and although some Bush supporters have touched on this, I think it could be drilled in a bit more.
Your article touched on the lesson of "complacency" and "over abundance" that can be the downfall, and have been, of democracies and empires alike. It is at the core of what I believe to be an American Achiles Heel: the inability of our citizens to even comprehend that the existence of our country is not a "given". Although Sept. 11 was a wake up call to some, others simply hit the snooze button and rolled to the other side.

 

[gifted]

Although Sept. 11 was a wake up call to some, others simply hit the snooze button and rolled to the other side.

I've heard it said people have been doing this since the first attacks in the eighties or so. 9/11 was just louder than the others.

Great post. I've heard some of it before, but it's always refreshign to hear it again.