RISE & FALL OF A DEMOCRACY

FYI - sent by Brian.  It appears that not all of the statements what he sent are accurate so I have corrected them as I could find out. See:  http://www.lorencollins.net/tytler.html  & http://www.snopes.com/politics/ballot/athenian.asp  Still - one must ask where we are heading.  I suspect one can also add Europe to regions at risk.

 

THE RISE & FALL OF A DEMOCRACY

 

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse 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 civilizations has been 200 years.

The earliest usage of "Why Democracies Fail" that has been located was printed on page 12A of the Daily Oklahoman on December 9, 1951.

The historical cycle seems to be:

• From bondage to spiritual faith;
• from spiritual faith to courage;
• from courage to liberty;
• from liberty to abundance;
• from abundance to selfishness;
• from selfishness to apathy;
• from apathy to dependency; and
• from dependency back to bondage once more.

"But the person who appears to be the actual author of this passage is none of the men named above. They were not born from the mouth or pen of a political leader or historian or famous author. Rather, they would seem to be the words of Henning Webb Prentis, Jr., President of the Armstrong Cork Company".

Henning W. Prentis, Industrial Management in a Republic, p. 22, 1943

 

The Obituary follows: Born 1776, Died 2011