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Words of Warning from 200 Years Ago
"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only
exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse (generous
gifts) from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes
for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with
the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, 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 complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependence back again into bondage."
Penned by Professor Alexander Tyler, a Scottish historian, who in 1787 wrote about the fall of the Athenian republic over 2000 years earlier.