To the Editor:
In 1887 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 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 over 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.
Following are some interesting statistics:
Number of States won by:
Obama: 20
McCain: 30
Square miles of land won by:
Obama: 580,000
McCain: 2,427,000
Population of counties won by:
Obama: 127 million
McCain: 143 million
We are not a democracy, we are a Constitutional Republic. Someone should point this out to our elected leaders. Please continue to refer them to the Constitution, as it was written to be followed and referenced when in doubt, not to be changed to meet our present needs.
Some see private enterprise as a predatory target to be shot, others as a cow to be milked, but few are those who see it as a sturdy horse pulling the wagon.
Trying to tax ourselves into prosperity is like standing in a bucket and trying to lift it by its handle.
Kenneth J. Joseph EMTP
Chief Executive Officer
Joseph Companies
<<Back>> |
