Based on history, it’s difficult to make the case that a civilization will last more than 200 years. There are many reasons why a democracy has a difficult time making it over the long haul which you’ll see below. Let me start with a civilization cycle provided by Dr. Alexander Tyler. Many other professors agree with him as I’m sure you’ve seen in many articles and books. This is how it flows:
1. People go from bondage to spirituality.
2. From spiritual faith to great courage.
3. From courage to freedom/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 to bondage (which is usually a dictatorship).
Take another look at the above and come up with your own conclusion as to where we are as a nation. Although I know some people are at level 7, I think most of our society is at level six. I think this because we’re not counting our blessings, and now most people are apathetic as to whether they can make a difference. Many people know how bad things are but don’t have any answers to how to improve them, so they just give up and hope the politicians are taking care of things. I don’t think they’re taking care of things, but they are taking care of themselves.
The reason a democracy has such a tough time making it (which can be seen above), is that it’s a great model (especially the one our forefathers put together), which outlined the very essence of capitalism. Unfortunately, this good thing always leads to some bad things. First of all, some people make it so to speak and some people don’t. With this in mind there comes a division between our economic classes and this negatively affects our democracy which I’ll explain in a minute. The other bad thing is that with abundance comes complacency. We lose that “Eye of the Tiger” to keep pushing ourselves to be the best we can. A nation that is apathetic is prime to be defeated in war.
Let me address this economic class issue and that is the lower classes feel they aren’t being treated fairly and that the people at the top are getting away with everything. With this in mind, they've become much more aggressive at voting for politicians who will take care of them. Someone once said: “A democracy will endure until the politicians figure out they can bribe the public with the public’s own money.” And Benjamin Franklin said: “When people find they can vote themselves money that will be the end of our Republic.” So, there’s no better way to provide citizens with opportunities than through capitalism but it leads to a dependency on government from the lower classes because of their growing entitlement mentality. And following Dr. Tyler’s cycle above, this dependency leads to bondage because the government will be their livelihood not an employer. Needless to say, the more people who fit this pattern, the closer we are to losing our Republic.
1. People go from bondage to spirituality.
2. From spiritual faith to great courage.
3. From courage to freedom/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 to bondage (which is usually a dictatorship).
Take another look at the above and come up with your own conclusion as to where we are as a nation. Although I know some people are at level 7, I think most of our society is at level six. I think this because we’re not counting our blessings, and now most people are apathetic as to whether they can make a difference. Many people know how bad things are but don’t have any answers to how to improve them, so they just give up and hope the politicians are taking care of things. I don’t think they’re taking care of things, but they are taking care of themselves.
The reason a democracy has such a tough time making it (which can be seen above), is that it’s a great model (especially the one our forefathers put together), which outlined the very essence of capitalism. Unfortunately, this good thing always leads to some bad things. First of all, some people make it so to speak and some people don’t. With this in mind there comes a division between our economic classes and this negatively affects our democracy which I’ll explain in a minute. The other bad thing is that with abundance comes complacency. We lose that “Eye of the Tiger” to keep pushing ourselves to be the best we can. A nation that is apathetic is prime to be defeated in war.
Let me address this economic class issue and that is the lower classes feel they aren’t being treated fairly and that the people at the top are getting away with everything. With this in mind, they've become much more aggressive at voting for politicians who will take care of them. Someone once said: “A democracy will endure until the politicians figure out they can bribe the public with the public’s own money.” And Benjamin Franklin said: “When people find they can vote themselves money that will be the end of our Republic.” So, there’s no better way to provide citizens with opportunities than through capitalism but it leads to a dependency on government from the lower classes because of their growing entitlement mentality. And following Dr. Tyler’s cycle above, this dependency leads to bondage because the government will be their livelihood not an employer. Needless to say, the more people who fit this pattern, the closer we are to losing our Republic.
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