cut and paste from an e-mail received...
t about the time our original 13 states adopted their new
> > constitution,
> > in the year 1787, Alexander Tyler (a Scottish history professor at The
> > University of Edinborough) 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 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. 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."
> >
> > Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul,
> > Minnesota, points out some interesting facts concerning the most
> > recent
> > Presidential election:
> >
> > Population of counties won by:
> > Gore=127 million
> > Bush=143 million
> >
> > Square miles of land won by:
> > Gore=580,000
> > Bush=2,2427,000
> >
> > States won by:
> > Gore=19
> > Bush=29
> >
> > 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 government welfare..."
> >
> > Olson believes the U.S. is now somewhere between the "complacency and
> > "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 in
> > this Election Year and that apathy is the greatest danger to our
> > freedom.
