AZGrizFan wrote:Food for thought:
How Long Do We Have?
About the time our original thirteen 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 2,000 years earlier: "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 they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury." "From that moment on, the majority always vote 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, those 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;
7. From apathy to dependence;
8. From dependence back into bondage"
I'd say we're firmly into the depndency phase, and give the country about 30 more years. Less if we continue electing democrats (which, by the logic of this article, we will).
As a country, we are now in step 6 and rapidly moving into step 7, imho.
The question is whether we continue to slide into step 8 or whether we wake up and decide enough is enough. Call it step "7.5, from dependence to awareness". If we were 15-20 years ago, prior to the beginning of the so-called "information age" that we are in now, I'd say we may not make it to step 7.5, that we would slide directly to step 8 before people woke up and it would be too late.
However, we are in the present and that means every American has more access to current events information than ever before, both in terms of speed of access to information and volume of information. As a result, maybe, just maybe, enough people will begin to pay attention to what is actually happening and what the consequences of what is happening will mean to them and future generations and will wake up in time to put a stop to it and get things turned around.
Personally, I don't think we will save ourselves. I think there are a lot of people who will choose to continue to avoid reality thinking it will "just work out" - the willfully ignorant people. They take the approach that they are too busy to pay attention or they think they can't do anything about it anyway, that their future is inevitable so they just don't bother to care. I think that by the time these people finally wake up, we will be beyond the point of return and will be so close to step 8 that it will be too late.
For a country that had it all, at the rate we're going and with the apathetic and/or ignorant attitude displayed by many even when faced with the facts about current events, I think we will spend so much time pointing fingers at each other that we will not spend enough time solving the problem and pulling ourselves out of it. A pretty bleak assessment but it's what I see happening given what I see and hear from people now.
For those who haven't read it, pick up a copy of "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand. As you're reading it, see how many parallels you see between that book, written 50 years ago, and the current events of today. It will amaze you.
