Democracy - How long will it last?
submitted by Dan Myers
Note: recently updated
This was sent to me by a friend and former classmate at Vanguard University, Costa Mesa, CA. Dan Myers is presently serving as the President of the Alumni Association at VU.
Very interesting. Don Hall~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A warning ... circa 1787 re the fall of the Athenian Republic:
"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money (generous gifts) from the public treasury. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money 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 civilization 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 selfishness;
from selfishness to complacency,
from complacency to apathy,
from apathy to dependency,
from dependence back into bondage."=====================================
2000 election factoids for consideration:
* Population of the counties won by Gore 127 million - won by Bush 143 million[ we looked into this and concluded it is essentially true.
See: http://www.usatoday.com/news/vote2000/cbc/map.htm - or see below]* Sq. miles of country won by Gore 580,000 - won by Bush 2,427,000
[ also true. same sources ]
* States won by Gore 20 - by Bush 30
[ this is true ]
* Murders per 100,000 residents in counties won by Gore 13.2 - by Bush 2.1 (not a typo)
[ The above cannot be substantiated. A more accurate calculation is: Gore, 6.5 Bush, 4.1.
Still a major difference. For more info on all this, check out: http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/tyler.asp ]
Someone [but not the university professor often attributed to this quote] said: "And may I add that 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 owned by the government and living off the government."
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Note: When I first read this piece I decided to check it out through the search engines. I found the quotes and facts in the piece to be generally accurate. Many of us have come to the conclusion that what was said about great democracies can also be said of great universities and corporations. Would we rather be free or accept the mantel of bondage which is the cloak of security?
DGM
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