(From an email I recieved today)

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 Edinborough) 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 due to loose fiscal policy, (which is) always
followed by a dictatorship."

"The average age of the worlds greatest civilizations from the
beginning 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=2,427,000

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-paying 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" phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy; with some
40 percent of the nation's population already having reached the
"governmental dependency" phase.

www.boortz.com

this may hold true for a democracy, but we are not a true democracy. we are a republic. The nation is too large, and the bulk of voters too uninformed to be an effective democracy, and thus the constitution set up a republic. Also, the population doesn't do a lot of research into the candidates, thus we still have the electoral college. of course, they usually vote the way the state voted.

~Critter

this may hold true for a democracy, but we are not a true democracy. we are a republic. The nation is too large, and the bulk of voters too uninformed to be an effective democracy, and thus the constitution set up a republic.I understand that, and while the parallels aren't exact, the roman empire was originally a republic too. Also, the population doesn't do a lot of research into the candidates, thus we still have the electoral college. of course, they usually vote the way the state voted.

~Critter
This doesn't have anything to do with selecting the President. Rather, it has to do with how the direct representitives behave in order to satisfy their constituents.

The points of the people voting themselves more from the public treasury, and becoming dependent are still valid.

...the roman empire was originally a republic too.In name, yes. But political intrigues prevented it from behaving as one. Rome was too corrupt for real law to rule.

The electoral college came about to prevent states with large populations like NY, NJ, VA, etc., from dominating the political process.

Not to be too pessimistic, but everything in nature, including political systems, has a life span. Things are born, grow, thrive, decay and finally die.

Not to be too pessimistic, but everything in nature, including political systems, has a life span. Things are born, grow, thrive, decay and finally die.

you forgot the last part: and are born anew, with a new form. Government way die, but another rises to take it's place. The Fuedal system of britain gave way to the parlimentarian system, more by the establishment of parliment than by royal decree. Japan went from it's empire to parlimentarian republic, and the emporer is a mere figurehead, altough still one comanding great respect.

~Critter