Posted on 02/09/2009 9:30:38 AM PST by edh
"When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic. "
I pulled a Benny Hill and had assumed Ben Franklin said this since it seems that virtually any "Ben Franklin Quote Site" claims he said/wrote this. However, I cannot find a citation regarding this quote. Does anyone know the history behind this quote and where it first appeared? Where exactly did Franklin say/write this (i.e. does some kind of record exist that he coined this?).
A friend actually brought up that this "quote" was only "documented" as recently as 1988 (see Wikiquotes. Someone mentions that there although I cannot find that article either).
While I agree wholeheartedly with the quote, I also hate making a fool of myself should Franklin not be the author of the quote or if this happens to be one of those "manufactured quotes" that happen from time to time.
I thought is was Alex De Toqueville
It’s Alexander Tyler:
“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.
—Alexander Tyler
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.
Great nations rise and fall. The people go from bondage to spiritual truth, 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 dependence, from dependence back again to bondage.
Not Franklin, and there is no validated source for it. Exhaustive attempts to identify a source are detailed here:
http://www.lorencollins.net/tytler.html
My favorite Toqueville quote for these days:
“By our apathy, by our acquiescence, and by our ignorance, the church of Jesus Christ has consigned itself to irrelevance and impotence in the ongoing struggle for the soul of America.”—Alexis De Toqueville
http://jpetrie.myweb.uga.edu/poor_richard.html
pfl
See my post a #5. There is no evidence that it was Tytler, nor any evidence of any other identifiable author. Pity, because it’s great statement.
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote. When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic. They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.
You will find variations of this quote going back to Plato.
It’s pure truth - even though source is questioned.
“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.”
Thomas Jefferson
Yes, it’s great...and as with many great statements, it doesn’t matter who said it, as long as it rings true. This certainly falls into that category.
I don’t know, but Margaret Thatcher said that the problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.
“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the arguement of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.”
William Pitt
Wow, hadn’t heard that one. Yes, we are losing for now, funny though that hard times seem to increase faith. Only time will tell, if we will pull ourselves out of this mess or if we will completely capitulate to the despair?
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