How Long Does the USA have?

Recieved via Email | Alexander Tyler - 1787 Scotland; Prof. Joseph Olson - Hemline Univ. School of Law, St. Paul, MN

[ImpBill]

HOW LONG DOES THE USA HAVE?

This is the most interesting thing I've read in a long time. The sad thing about it, you can see it coming. I have always heard about this democracy countdown. It is interesting and concerning to see it in print. God help us, not that we deserve it.

How Long Do We Have?

About the time our original thirteen states adopted their new constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh , had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years earlier:

'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 they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury.'

'From that moment on, the majority always vote 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'

'During those 200 years, those nations always progressed through the following sequence:

1. From bondage to spiritual faith;

2. From spiritual faith to great courage;

3. From courage to liberty;

4. From liberty to abundance;

5. From abundance to complacency;

6. From complacency to apathy;

7. From apathy to dependence;

8. From dependence back into bondage'

Professor Joseph Olson of Hemline University School of Law, St. Paul , Minnesota , points out some interesting facts concerning the 2000 Presidential election:

Number of States won by:
Gore: 19
Bush: 29

Square miles of land won by:
Gore: 580,000
Bush: 2,427,000

Population of counties won by:
Gore: 127 million
Bush: 143 million

Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by:
Gore: 13.2
Bush: 2.1

Professor Olson adds: 'In aggregate, the map of the territory Bush won was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of this great country.

Gore's territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off various forms of government welfare...' Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the 'complacency and apathy' phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy, with some forty percent of the nation's population already having reached the 'governmental dependency' phase.

If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty million criminal invaders called illegal and they vote, then we can say goodbye to the USA in fewer than five years.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

It's a nice piece with interesting sentiments and ideas, but it's been around a LONG time. See what Snopes has to say about it.

[CowboyJay]

Good post, and good read. Based on a recent survey also posted here stating that 51% of our fellow citizens now value security over privacy, I'd guess we're a little farther down the road than the author believes.

I'd put us about here:

7. From apathy to dependence

[Bear_Slayer]

I'm a little late comeing into this thread, but if hasn't been said yet, let me be the first to say it,

"We are not a democracy!"

and if we held true to our foundations we would not have gotten into this mess."

[Inyo-Mono]

For a while, however, some colonies required published lists showing how each voter cast his ballot.

Public records from that time period show that my five times great-grandfather voted for Gen. Washington for president.

[Bear_Slayer]

The Chinese have had major interruptions and modifications to their system, but a unique continuous Chinese civilization with a great many characteristics in common throughout, can be traced back at least 3,000 years.

That's great!

. . . but they're still living under communist slavery. So, it doesn't matter that they have a slightly unbroken chain of civilization, they don't have (never did have) a government that protects individual freedom -- and neither will we if our government continues down the path it's going.

[Eastbound]

"“Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy that did not commit suicide.”
John Adams"

That's why they created a Representative Republic . . . NOT a democracy. Therefore, the premise is wrong if it is referring to America.

[phs3]

I think this is where most of these writings come from..

Democracy in America

[Sudetenland]

Dead on CB. It sounds good, but there are no bona fides for Tytler having ever said it. The closest is Juvenal's "panem et circenses."

The people that once bestowed commands, consulships, legions, and all else, now concerns itself no more, and longs eagerly for just two things - bread and circuses!from Satires

It says the same thing basically.

[MaxMax]

If Fred doesn’t win in the end....we have a lot less time than we would otherwise.

We can still take back the Congress and Senate, and it seems that
the MSM has taken that off the plates of Americans. Why?, well,
just look at who's in control of the Congress and Senate. One never shows
their intentions in a game of chess. Distraction is the agenda from the MSM.

This is going to be one hard year for Freedom, and I'm in!

GOD BLESS AMERICA

[Fishrrman]

I have long felt that, unfortunately, America reached her apex a number of decades ago now

I figure 1954 was "the year" of the apex....

- John

[Eastbound]

Never trust a non-Citizen to define the American political system. Never having lived it, they know not what it is. Rights come from God and Citiaens know instinctively when someone trespasses on those rights, particularly government, which was created to protect those rights.

Sounds like Toqueville was one Toque over the line.

[Eastbound]

PS: Thanks for the link, phs3.

[Lancey Howard]

If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty million criminal invaders called illegal and they vote, then we can say goodbye to the USA in fewer than five years.

Ironically, a rat President could never get this done because the GOP could unite in "loyal opposition"... On the other hand, a scumbag like McCain COULD get it done, with the help of just a few friendly "moderate" Republicans.

[Travis McGee]

'A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury.' 'From that moment on, the majority always vote 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.'

Here are some quotes by Ludwig Von Mises, the "dean of the Austrian school of economics," expressing much the same concept.

"There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as a result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved."

"Credit expansion can bring about a temporary boom. But such a fictitious prosperity must end in a general depression of trade, a slump."

"True, governments can reduce the rate of interest in the short run. They can issue additional paper money. They can open the way to credit expansion by the banks. They can thus create an artificial boom and the appearance of prosperity. But such a boom is bound to collapse soon or late and to bring about a depression."

"Credit expansion is not a nostrum to make people happy. The boom it engenders must inevitably lead to a debacle and unhappiness."

"What is needed for a sound expansion of production is additional capital goods, not money or fiduciary media. The credit boom is built on the sands of banknotes and deposits. It must collapse."

"If the credit expansion is not stopped in time, the boom turns into the crack-up boom; the flight into real values begins, and the whole monetary system founders."

[wastedyears]

I would hope somebody that sees me might think “this guy has potential.”

[wastedyears]

Two years into her first term will provide what outcome?

FReep mail if need be.

[Eastbound]

Howdy, ImpBill. Please ping me when y’all start talking about remedy. Not talking about band-aids. Thanks.

[TYVets]

I have long felt that, unfortunately, America reached her apex a number of decades ago now.

I figure 1954 was "the year" of the apex....

GMTA, I have said 1955 or 1956 was "the year"

[Tom_Busch]

We are in deep chit, that’s for sure.

[Scotsman will be Free]

I thought that the frenchman, De Tocquiville(sp)made the comment about the voters voting themselves goods, and once they figured out how to do that we were finished.