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Thread: Something I've been saying forever...

  1. #1
    Twitching Arcades057's Avatar
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    Something I've been saying forever...

    How Long Do We Have? - from Dave Clark
    >
    > About the time our original 13 states adopted their new constitution,
    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 prior:
    >
    > "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 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:
    > 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 Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul,
    Minnesota, points out some interesting facts concerning the 2000
    Presidential election:
    > 1. Population of counties won by: Gore: 127 million; Bush: 143
    > million;
    > 2. Square miles of land won by: Gore: 580,000; Bush: 2,427,000;
    > 3. States won by: Gore: 19 Bush: 29
    > 4. 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 tax-paying citizens of this great country.
    Gore's territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in
    > government-owned tenements living off government welfare."
    >
    > Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the "complacency
    & apathy" phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy, with some 40
    percent of the nation's population already having reached the "governmental
    dependency" phase.
    >
    > Pass this along to help everyone realize just how much is at stake,
    knowing that apathy is the greatest danger to our freedom.
    >

    A little political, yeah, but it makes you think.
    In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

  2. #2
    Harvester Of Sorrow Deadman_Deluxe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Arcades057
    A little political, yeah, but it makes you think.
    Certainly does ... it makes me think about going to sleep

  3. #3
    Twitching Arcades057's Avatar
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    Well then good night to you, fine sir!
    In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

  4. #4
    Dying idsaluteyoubub's Avatar
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    Huh...a very interesting article...however it lacks any historical socialogical element to it...people 2000 or even 200 hundred years ago are completely different to present day people...could that be a good or bad thing? Hard to say...and I would have liked to see that element in this piece...but an interesting read nonetheless...

  5. #5
    Walking Dead p2501's Avatar
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    meh, this is attributable to one of those "well all gonna die lawdy lawdy" chain emails i get from my mother.

    this passage fails to account for our technological advances in the past 5 decades, and the socio/ploitical ramifacations, by the near instant delivery of information. further it ignores the generalized apathy of the average person, choosing to instead highlight "land grab" mentality fostered by 24 hour news networks about our electoral college. frankly a territory on control doesn't matter as much in terms of a voter base, aspecially considering bush's rcurrent approval rating (or lack thereof) in his own "red" states.

    the fact ot the matter is, while our democratic system may go through entropic decline, but short of catastrophy or economic colapse, it will endure.

    it will endure because it is profitable, and so long as it is profitable, and can be manipulated to both partially serve the masses, while supporting corporate intrests, our system will not be allowed to fail.

    **** look at china, within the next 20 years they closley resemble Japan's economic systems. within another 20 they'll be the USA ver 2.0. why? because money motivates everything.

  6. #6
    certified super rad Danny's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Deadman_Deluxe
    Certainly does ... it makes me think about going to sleep
    ditto.

  7. #7
    Twitching Arcades057's Avatar
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    Heheh, P, I got it from my mom too.
    In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

  8. #8
    Walking Dead p2501's Avatar
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    ahahahhaha. awesome!

    now if only i could focus this ability towards getting winning powerball numbers...............

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