A democracy is always temporary in nature...
Here is a text I received in a chain email which claims it was written in 1776 by Scottish Professor Alexander Fraser Tytler in a book titled "The Decline and Fall of the Athenian
Republic":
"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largesse 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 a loss of fiscal
responsibility, always followed by a dictatorship.
The average of the world's great civilizations before they decline has been 200 years.
These nations have progressed in 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 dependency;
from dependency back again to bondage."
Brilliant text, isn't it?
And the fact that it was written in 1776 regarding Athens' democracies makes it even more convincing, doesn't it?
Unfortunately, it is not so: researchers have never managed to link this text to Professor Tytler, and there is no record of his alleged book "The Decline and Fall of the Athenian
Republic". More info here and here...
Still, the text leaves room for thought, doesn't it?
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