Need some quick help on finding who said this...

unknown ^ | today | for-q-clinton

[for-q-clinton]

Need to know who said "Democracy is doomed to failure when the 51% of the population figures out they can take everything from the other 49%"? Or something like that.

thank you

[El Gato]

The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.

Then we are truly and completely screwed. The Republic is dead. That's what "earmarks" are all about, as are "welfare", "publicly funded healthcare", and even FHA guaranteed loans. (VA loans are different, you have to do some thing, like risk getting your A$$ shot off, to earn those).

[for-q-clinton]

that’s it!
Alexander Fraser Tyler, Cycle of Democracy (1770)

thx

[for-q-clinton]

thx. That was what I was originally looking for.

[papasmurf]

Is this it?

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 worlds greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these 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 back into bondage.

[mnehring]

You just did..

[Uncle Miltie]

Alls I knows it that we’re perty derned close.

[stefanbatory]

so the trick is in setting oneself up as the benevolent dictator at the opportune moment.../sarc...

[El Gato]

We’re a republic, which is a form of democracy; namely, a representative democracy.

A Republic need not be a form of democracy. Our government is a representative Republic, with the representatives elected by democratic means, although that wasn't completely true at first, since Senators were selected by State Legislatures, by any means they chose.

You'll not find the word democracy or it's variants anywhere in the Constitution. You will find a guarantee of a Republican form of government to the states. I guess you say that we are a Constitutional Republic, where the powers of the government are limited and defined. Or at least they once were.

[papasmurf]

It would seem that way, ya’ think? LOL

[Cicero]

The ancient world demonstrated that pure Democracies will always break down into populism.

For that reason, political philosophers and historians concluded that a “mixed” government was best, like the Roman Republic, which had consuls, a senate, tribunes, and the people, providing checks and balances.

Our constitution likewise tries to provide checks and balances, between the branches of government and between the states and central government. But even that will break down eventually, because it depends on the basic honesty, morality, and good will of the people.

In the US, as Toqueville argued, it was religion, chiefly Christianity, that provided the moral and family values that made Democracy possible. Outlawing religion, as our activist judges are working hard to do, is a pretty good way to destroy the Republic.

[cherry]

looks like we’ll be getting more faith pretty soon....maybe that’s what is meant to be....

[DoughtyOne]

Yes it is and I appreciate the post. Thank you.

[Revolting cat!]

Charlie Brown.

[castlebrew]

Robert Heinlein had that as a leitmotif in Starship Troopers. Only those who served honorably in the military had the right to vote, as the true definition of a citizen was that of one willing to give their life for the country/society.

Point being that those on the dole (hence unwilling to join the military, and therefore not earn citizenship) had no incentive to get off the dole if by voting as a bloc they could continue to support/enrich themselves.

[Eastbound]

The nation goes belly-up when congress starts voting on their own pay raises. Something like that.

[Erasmus]

Let’s see. Here are the leading targets for miscellaneous attributions:

1. Albert Einstein
2. George Carlin
3. Yogi Berra
4. Ted Nugent

So it could be any one of these four.

< }B^)

[philman_36]

We’re a republic, which is a form of democracy; namely, a representative democracy.
I see the confounding continues...
The Federalist Papers : No. 14
I remark here only that it seems to owe its rise and prevalence chiefly to the confounding of a republic with a democracy, applying to the former reasonings drawn from the nature of the latter. The true distinction between these forms was also adverted to on a former occasion. It is, that in a democracy, the people meet and exercise the government in person; in a republic, they assemble and administer it by their representatives and agents. A democracy, consequently, will be confined to a small spot. A republic may be extended over a large region.

[LibWhacker]

in a republic, they assemble and administer it by their representatives and agents.

Administer it by their elected representatives. It is a form of democracy as surely as a square is a special kind of rectangle.

[philman_36]

It is a form of democracy as surely as a square is a special kind of rectangle.
But you're trying to compare a rectangle to a triangle!
The only thing they share in common is that they're both geometric forms.

[LibWhacker]

Part of the problem is there are many names for direct democracy and representative democracy. I've seen direct democracy referred to as just plain old democracy, or sometimes true democracy, or pure democracy,' etc. While representative democracy is sometimes called 'a republic, or parliamentary democracy,' etc. And make no mistake, a parliamentary democracy is different from our republic. But the point is, they are both forms of representative democracy. They are democracies. They are just different interpretations on the theme.

de·moc·ra·cy      /dɪˈmɒkrəsi/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[di-mok-ruh-see] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation

–noun, plural -cies.

1.	government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.

2.	a state having such a form of government: The United States and Canada are democracies.