Democracy in America-How Long Do We Have?

I received this in the form of an e-mail from a friend and found it quite thought provoking. I will let the words speak for themselves.
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How Long Do We Have?

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 2,000 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 public treasury."

"From that moment on, the majority always vote 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"

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

Number of States won by:
Gore: 19
Bush: 29

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

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

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 taxpaying citizens of this great country.
Gore's territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off various forms of 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 forty percent of the nation's population already having reached the "governmental dependency" phase.

If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty million criminal invaders called illegal and they vote, then we can say goodbye to the USA in fewer than five years.

well, the first think I'd like to point out is it's always been a reprersentative democracy over here in the US, so all you ever really get to do is vote for someone to then vote on your behalf. I've never had the chance to vote on the federal budget

so if vote for candidate A and candidate B wins, you are essentially removed from the process entirely. Candidate B will vote to represent and appease the people who put him there.

I mention this because the town I live in is an old fashined town meeting democracy, where every town resident gets to vote on every issue. It rocks. I really feel like my vote matters, and I vote all the time.

What really changed everything is TV. Can you imagine Abe Lincoln winning with that mug ? True statespeople are a thing of the past

Now we get talking heads propped up by the corporations to do thier bidding. whoopee

it beats a military dictatorship, but not by much, because party politics can bring the congress to a standstill

What I would really love to see in the US is an abolishement of the electoral college, but that probably needs an ammendment or something like that

the electoral college was put in place to make sure the dumb citizens didn't vote for the "wrong" candidate, the electorates could always change thier votes if need be ( I think ). Can any experts tell me the last time an electorate didn't vote according to what his/her district voted for ? The last time an electorate changed the vote ?

I would love to see a simple majority wins system put in place here


.02

reply to post by BlueRidge


This study is bunk. You can only collect welfare for 60 months in the United States. Many European countries (at least I would argue) are more democratic than the U.S., and have large numbers of people on public assistance.

Hence the "various forms of welfare" i.e. social security, government programs for the people and for corporations.

Can you elaborate? I'm not sure I understand what you mean.

Welfare is any form of governmental assistance given to individuals or businesses/corporations. This was just to debunk the claim the welfare was just limited to poor people receiving welfare for 60 months. I apologize for not being clear about it.

Originally posted by BlueRidge
Welfare is any form of governmental assistance given to individuals or businesses/corporations. This was just to debunk the claim the welfare was just limited to poor people receiving welfare for 60 months. I apologize for not being clear about it.

Well, my opinion is other problems will lead to the end of democracy, not social programs. I don't find the study useful, but I guess that's because of my world view. I think the welfare state is a good thing.