Cycle of Democracy .
The following was written by Professor Alexander Fraser Tytler shortly before our original 13 colonies gained their independence from Great Britain. He was speaking of the Athenian Republic some 2000 years before.
"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse (generous benefits) from the public treasury.
"From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising them the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.
"The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence:
"From bondage to spiritual faith;
from spiritual faith to great courage;
from courage to liberty;from liberty to abundance;
from abundance to selfishness;from selfishness to complacency;
from complacency to apathy;
from apathy to dependence;
from dependency back again into bondage."