The progression of nations

S

steelheart

Moderator
Some interesting thoughts on the progression of nations:


About the time our original 13 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 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:

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 ."

Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul,
Minnesota, points out some interesting facts concerning the 2000 Presidential
election:

Population of counties won by: Gore: 127 million; Bush: 143 million;

Square miles of land won by: Gore: 580,000; Bush: 2,427,000

States won by: Gore: 19 Bush: 29

Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by: Gore: 13.2 Bush: 2.1


Professor Olson adds: "In aggregate, the map of the territory Bush won
was mostly the land owned by the tax-paying citizens of this great country.

Gore's territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off government welfare.."


Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the
"complacency and apathy" phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy,
with some 40 percent of the nation's population already having reached the
"governmental dependency" phase.
Click to expand...

Your thoughts?
 
Professor Tyler is misinformed historically. Professor Olson sounds like just another numbnuts acadamecian with some political agenda.

WildandsounbitingwhathesaysmakesitworseAlaska
 
steelheart,

you really need to move away from seeing the world in such simplified patterns. Just because someone is not a Conservative/Republican/right-winger does not automatically mean they're a Socialist/Democrat/left-winger.

As for that "Progression of Nations" thing, the bit about 200 years is just patently untrue. The whole quote reads like an urban legend, designed to be forwarded around by people who don't know any better. (Conveniently enough, 200 years is right about the age of the United States....hmmm.)

Greece lasted for 500-1000 years, depending on when you start counting, and what you consider the nucleus of Greek civilization. Rome lasted for 1,000 years from early Republic to the end of the Western Empire, and 2,000 years if you count Byzantium as a continuation of the Roman Empire. (The Byzantine Empire by itself lasted 1,000 years.) The Holy Roman Empire also made it over 1,000 years...and so on, and so on.

As I said, it just reads like one of those "Forward this to everyone you know, it sure sounds smart and relevant!" emails that get passed around all the time by people who don't have any original thoughts of their own to contribute.
 
Your thoughts?
Click to expand...
a) That you are against democracy.
2) Don't realize or understand the reasoning behind our representative government, which is not a true democracy, due to the Founder's worries about democracies.
 
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