Posted on 02/10/2005 3:26:13 PM PST by lawnguy
A friend and I were talking today about the future of our culture. It seems most Democracys around the world have adopted a nanny state mentality.
Is this a natural evolution of freedom? Is this evolution inevitable? I'm just curious to see what you guys think about this question.
America has already outlived the life expentency of a republic.
I think it is inevitable. But we are staving it off for as long as possible. If I were a gazelle, I would reather live in the dangerous wild than in a "safe" zoo.
And what is the next stage? France?
First, we ain't no stinkin' democracy. Second, all cultures decline and fall into tyranny or chaos. I've read somewhere (forgot where) that constitutional republics typically have a 200 year lifespan before they veer off into statism. I don't know if it's true, but all I can say is that all nations fall eventually. I believe we're sliding down in that direction.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1335238/posts
Vanities and General Interest.
General/Chat
All non-sourced non-news threads are posted here. This doesn’t mean your one thought is a thread by itself. Lately, we have been seeing articles posted that should be comments made on the main article. Your comment/vanity article will be pulled or moved to General/Chat. Vanities should be limited to the mission of Free Republic.
Click on general /chat before posting a vanity.
I think it was somewhere in his "Democracy In America" that Tocqueville pointed out that the republic would thrive until the people figured out that they could vote themselves goodies from the public treasury, and everything would go south from there.
Sounds plausible but I wonder how that 200 year lifespan is determined. There are not many constitutional republics that existed more than 200 years ago.
Questionable Quote from Sir Alex Fraser Tytler:
"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largess of the public treasury. From that time on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the results 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 two hundred years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from great courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependency back again to bondage."
Wasn't it Toqueville that described it as a full circle?
Bondage-freedom-apathy-back to bondage
I know ther'es more to it than that, but I'm naut a vewy smaught man
Ditto.
I should waited a minute to post. Thanks for that
Thank you.
I had this quote as a xerox copy from an old magazine and could not find it.
Pondering is an art.
I expect you have wondered what challenges are left to the human species. We have conquered air and space. We have bountiful sources of food, clothing and shelter. Our medical care permits harvesting of replacement organs and most diseases are easily remedied. Travel is not a chore but entertainment.
Our ancestors would consider our lives close to the Gods of Greek myth.
IMHO man is best when challenged or faced with adversity. Even though our Nation is at war, we are not inconvenienced in any manner. Our military is conducting that war far from our senses of fear and discomfort.
Our civilization could deteriorate from within - when we place no value on ourselves and our posterity.
Jumped into a search to find a link, but you beat me with the whole quote. :)
Not necessarily! Yes we look around and we conclude that the republic is going to the $hits however, your founding fathers have made a contingency for this possibility:
"The only way to return the Judiciary to the independent, impartial, and objective branch of government, created in the Constitution to protect and defend the basic rights of the people, is to pass a Constitutional amendment requiring the judiciary to function as the founding fathers intended and as the majority of American citizens believe that it actually functions."
http://www.judicialamendment.com/Page.html
IMHO your country is being systematically assaulted by a liberal elitist idiology hell bent on dragging america (kicking and screaming if I mnay add) into a future it does not want to be part of! Becaue they cannot achieve power through the democratic process, they have to subvert the constitution through the only means possible: the courts. They have systematically targeted cultural institutions like the family, church and community in order to impose their moral rationalism on the rest of you. This phenomena is a global endeavor. Robert Bork wrote an amazing book on the subject. I suggest you read it:
Coercing Virtue
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,97117,00.html
There is alot that can be said. Your feedback would be appreciated.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.