Originally Posted by raymr

The Point of No Return

There is much disagreement as to who said the words in the next few paragraphs. Many people attribute them to an eighteenth century Scotsman named Alexander Tytler, but regardless of the author, when taken literally and applied to today, they are chilling to say the least.

"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 votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to 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.

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 into bondage"