“When anything reaches its maximum potential, it turns toward its opposite.”
When the constitution was written only land owners could vote!
BUMP!
bump. . .
I would put that at 500 years. Democratic/Republican phase is much shorter than even 200 years. You could make an argument that we stopped being a Republic around 1945 -- Southerners would probably say 1861.
It’s a good thing that we are not a democracy then. For those that don’t know, we are a “Constitutional Republic”.
This is one of those quotes which cannot be verified by any documentary source. It is probably made up because it sounds good, and then had this little-remembered guy’s name tacked on it.
There are similar “conservative” Lincoln quotes; a fake Lenin quote about buying rope from the capitalists with which to hang them; the fake Hitler quote (popular in the 1970s) trying to have him endorse “law and order” in a way that would embarrass conservatives; the quote “Let them eat cake” which is not really from Marie Antoinette; &c.
The Internet makes spreading of fake quotes very easy and popular.
So, for historical accuracy, let’s try to verify some of these things.
The Effect was seen yesterday.
There’s a story about a lady rushing up to Ben Franklin after the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787. She asked, “Well, sir, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?”
Franklin replied, “A Republic, if you can keep it.”
It wasn’t easy to establish a Republic but it seems even more difficult to keep it.
Great quote!
The only thing which will reverse that inevitable cycle is
contained in 2 Chr. 7:14.
By the way, just the internal evidence makes the origin of this quote suspect. For one thing, it does not read like anything from the 1700s. Then the bit about an average civilization lasting 200 years is not something someone ordinary would even mention in the 1700s, partly because it makes no sense, but mainly because the mania for trying to quantify everything is a modern conceit. This make me suspect that this quote actually came from about the time of the US Bicentennial (1976), and was an attempt to get people to think, “Oh dear! What a coincidence! We are there right now, and.. and.. we’re DOOMED!”
The principle of an electorate voting benefits for themselves has truth, but it is a modern thing from the age of democracies. The idea that societies are going to go through such regular stages in perfect sequence is evolutionary, and smacks of Marxist constructs, or Spenglerian pessimism.
I would bet you a six-pack of fine Nova Scotia Propeller-brand dark beer that this quote is a fake.
Do we forget all this or simply do not know it?
We are a Republic. There is a difference.