[alloysteel]

Command-and-control regimes have an almost fatal attraction for certain mindsets. Call it what you will, all these schemes have certain similar characteristics.

First of all, they are top-down, not based on any real representation of the collective will of the subjects (not citizens), but acting at the whim of a self-selected oligarchy at the top. Further, they style themselves to be some kind of military organization, with the leaders adorning themselves with grand titles, many of which denote a military rank, and exercise a strictly enforced hierarchy, largely bypassing anything like a parliament or national assembly, and largely inventing law rulings out of the current demands of the oligarchy. The judicial system, such as it is, is mostly a rubber stamp giving a veneer of “legality” to those directives, using the forms and procedures established in the mission statements and founding documents of the organized nation subject to this command-and-control regime, but never challenging the naked power being exercised.

The Alexander Tytler cycle:

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 into bondage.

We have already descended beyond apathy. But cycles, like wheels, continue to turn.

[unread]

"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."

Alexander Tytler..

[sauropod]

bkmk

[poconopundit]

The Alexander Tytler cycle:

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 into bondage.

We have already descended beyond apathy. But cycles, like wheels, continue to turn.

* * *

Wonderful quote, alloysteel. Let's hope there's still time to turn the wheel in the opposite direction.

I went to the Alexander Tytler wiki entry and found a splendid diagram and more text...

"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 that 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 loose 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..."