10.15.2008

Our "Exit Strategy"?

I stumbled on this "breezy" take on history, but I couldn't verify the supposed source. It's interesting, but I'm not sure about some of the details, like how the "average age of the world's greatest civilizations" was calculated:
About the time our original 13 states adopted their new constitution, in
1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of
Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic
Some 2000 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….
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; (lack of feeling, emotion, interest, or concern)
7. From apathy to dependence;
8. From dependence back into BONDAGE “


UPDATE: W.C. here. I've looked this up before and believe it to be bogus. That is, the concept is correct, but it was not said by Alexander Tyler.

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Nailed it!

July 5 :