Monday, February 23, 2009

For Whom The Bell Tolls

At about the time our original 13 states adopted their new constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinboro, 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:

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.

INTERESTING STATISTICS

Professor Joseph Olson of Hemline University School of Law,
St. Paul, Minnesota, points out facts of 2008 Presidential election:

Number of States won by: Democrats: 19; Republicans: 29
Square miles of land won by: Democrats: 580,000; Republicans: 2,427,000
Population of counties won by: Democrats: 127,000,000; Republicans: 143,000,000
Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by: Democrats: 13.2; Republicans: 2.1

Professor Olson adds:

"In aggregate, the map of the territory Republican won by Republicans was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of the country. Democrat territory mostly encompassed blacks living in government-owned tenements and living off various forms of
government welfare.

Professor Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the "complacency and apathy" phase (Step 6) of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy, with some forty percent of the nation's population already having reached the "governmental dependency" phase (Step 7).

If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to 20,000,000 criminal invaders called illegal aliens and they vote, then we can say goodbye to the USA in fewer than five years.

And, Olson adds, the last gasp of any country has been when marriage and the family have taken a back seat to other sexual interests — as witness Rome - one of the greatest and most-wide spread governments.

Another sign of the end, he says, is the lack of true spiritual interest where the God of the Bible and His ways are replaced by man's thinking and his own ways.

Wake up, Americans. The bell is tolling loud and clear and it tolls for thee.

4 comments:

Kristin said...

Does Professor Olson site his sources? I've read that the states that voted Red actually receive far more in public assistance than those that went Blue, even if major metropolitan areas (mostly Blue areas) have higher murder rates and more African Americans.

Kristin said...

Here's the image illustrating that assistance, based on data from the Tax Foundation.

Brian said...

Kristin,

Pofessor Olson did not cite his sources but he did say "mostly" in citing his statistics so I am unsure h find your charow much latitude that gives him.

I did find your chart to be interesting and thank you for sendihg it.

Anonymous said...

Limit mortgage interest deductions? This has a 100% chance of making the housing / banking situation worse. Even if you don't believe that high income people deserve it, the fact is that a high income person who buys a home:
- helps the seller raise some much needed cash
- helps the banks that hold the old and new mortgages
- helps local governments with more real estate taxes and fees
- helps realtors and contractors
But Obama apparently doesn't care!

Limit deduction for charitable contributions? I was just watching Glenn Beck. He was talking to a rich guy who typically gives all of his salary to charity. Under the old rules he paid no income tax because he gave all his income away, Under Obama's rules, he will have to pay taxes for the privliege of giving his money away. Glenn Beck and Ben Stein said that Obama's plan was to control charitable contributions - that the government will increase taxes and decide what charities they want to pay it back out to.

Prohibiting fossil fuel exploration in the U.S. seems foolish because alternatives will not meet our needs for many years. But to kill fossil fuel exploration with an environmental tax in this economy is unbelievable. Our country becomes increasingly dependent. Energy users companies (who are already hurting) and households will see an indirect tax because the energy producers will pass this cost along to the consumer.