National progression

Written more than 200 years ago and well worth remembering in the upcoming
months ..

At about the time our original 13 states adopted their new constitution, in
the year 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 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 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 world's greatest civilizations from the beg inning
of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations
always progressed through the following sequence:

From Bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage."

Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul,
Minnesota, points out some interesting facts concerning the most recent
Presidential election:

Population of counties won by:
Gore=127 million
Bush=143 million

Square miles of land won by:
Gore=580,000
Bush=2,2427,000

States Won By
Gore=19
Bush=29

Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by:
Gore=13.2
Bush=2.1

Professor Olson adds: "In aggregate, the map of the territory Bush won was
mostly the land owned by the tax-pa ying citizens of this great country.
Gore's territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in
government-owned tenements and living off government welfare..."

Olson believes the U.S. is now somewhere between the "complacency and
"apathy" phases of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy; with some 40
percent of the nation's population already having reached the "governmental
dependency" phase.

Pass this along to help everyone realize just how much is at stake in this
election year and that apathy is the greatest danger to our freedom.