Food for thought

h4vvok

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At 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 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



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=22,427,000

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 tax-paying 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.
 
ohhhh boy. this is gonna be good.


*finds a nice aisle seat and gets comfy*
 
Yeah, should be fun watching this one. What is said in that is very interesting though. I always think its fun looking at the world now and how it has reached this point. People just assume things like US dominance of the world will last forever...yet not so long ago the Americans were inward looking, had a very small army and the British were the dominant ones.
 
Nothing lasts for ever, its something I have said for a very long time now. I have always believed democracy to be deeply flawed and temporary (not that I really know of a better alternative) but this just confirms that it wasn't just me neccessarily being a nut case. Its certainly intersting information, but don't anyone take this the wrong way. The US is a democracy and everyone (almost everyone at least) who posts on these forums comes from a democratic nation, so don't think that your country is immune or will outlast the US democracy because chances are it won't.

Hopefully that will keep at least a couple of people from starting a flame war. :(
 
the decline of the roman empire = modern day US of A
 
It just goes to show you how much of an influence the "people" have on a country. That muder rate is very suspectful. Most of the bigger states must have voted for Bush as their crime rates are likely to be more common.

OT: Do you really need more than 50 States? I still cannot see the importance of that.
 
Human beings eh....do we ever learn? I think we just find new ways to make the same mistakes.


[/profound] :)
 
DID YOU KNOW that a Canadian minute is actually longer than an American minute due to a strange anomaly in the space-time continuum

Thats just got to be the funniest weird thing I've read in a long time :LOL:
 
Oh noes.

This isn't good at all......;(

Where would the world be without the USA?

I can't even think about it.
 
I can't wait to see the rest of them when I get home. I think I've seen a few of them before, but they are funny.
 
Yes...well enough of that now. Its was funny, but they are representative of humans as a whole :)
 
Aye, remember the survey in which a lot of British people thought that Hitler was a Prime Minister? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/1123738.stm

Ignorant people can be everywhere. I wouldn't know the first thing about Canada and if someone came up to me and told me something about it, I'd tend to believe it.

PS: Edinburgh.
 
Feath said:
Ignorant people can be everywhere. I wouldn't know the first thing about Canada and if someone came up to me and told me something about it, I'd tend to believe it.

That's very true. I was a victim of that when I was hearing things about the Americans and their way of life. Although I still think like that today as well, what with the media and propaganda.

:LOL: at Mullinator's signature.
 
lol the kid outsmarted the rest of them. thats great. i remeber watching that episode.
now only if 22 minutes teamed up with air farce and had mike from kenmore with rick in the states.

did you know that all canadians are forced to name their dog norm. hehe
 
TTA makes me smile on those few occasions I've watched it. 'Course, I often feel uncomfortable with the fact that people like that actually exist.

Anyway, as for the research findings, I found it very interesting and so I was surprised to realise I'd never seen it referenced before. As easily as I can picture it happening, however, I'd presume that modern social climates and technology might throw a wrench into Mr. Tyler's theory when applied to this century. Then again politics and social conditions never were my strongpoints...

*dibs on American dictatorship*
 
Farrowlesparrow said:
Yes...well enough of that now. Its was funny, but they are representative of humans as a whole :)
Its not as bad as you might think, I remember seeing on the news how there was an American filming crew that came to Canada and did the exact same thing but to Canadians. Its really just a good way of poking fun and hopefully no one takes it too seriously.

You've gotta love Rick Mercer though, hes a Canadian comedian hero. Anyone from Canada remember when he started the petition to change Stockwell Day's name to Dorris Day? :LOL:
 
The Mullinator said:
Its not as bad as you might think, I remember seeing on the news how there was an American filming crew that came to Canada and did the exact same thing but to Canadians. Its really just a good way of poking fun and hopefully no one takes it too seriously.

You've gotta love Rick Mercer though, hes a Canadian comedian hero. Anyone from Canada remember when he started the petition to change Stockwell Day's name to Dorris Day? :LOL:

lol i think i remeber it. and i would ahve signed it too if given the chance. but screw day and what ever leader is in now and what ever party they are this year or the next. bring back preston manning
 
Preston Manning? oh ya, that's what we need: another ultra conservative borderline racist in office

bring back Trudeau!!!

Rotting Corpse of Trudeau > Preston Manning

:)
 
yeah, we're al screwed. I'm probably moving to sweden anyway, they seem fairly stable.
 
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