The Fall of Democracy

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure. 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 followed by a dictatorship.

The average age of the world’s great civilizations has been two hundred years.

These nations have 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 selfishness, from selfishness to complacency from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage.

The steps are often attributed to Alexander Tytler but some researchers credit a 1943 speech "Industrial Management in a Republic" by H. W. Prentis, president of the Armstrong Cork Company with the progression from bondage back to bondage again over time.

I believe the people of the United States are between apathy and dependency right now. What do you think? Leave comments at http://www.voiceofbatesville.com at the bottom of the post