Statistics

**Magnum440** · 05-16-06, 07:34 AM

No matter your political party/philosophy, here are some very interesting statistics. We do have a "Republic" form of government, and not a true democracy, but Benjamin Franklin replied when asked what form of government the founding fathers had given us, "a Republic if you can keep it."

Read it and weep because it IS happening. Fact: 42% of US citizens will not pay a Penney in state or federal income tax this year.

How long do we have?

About the time our original 13 states adopted their new constitution, 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 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:

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 "
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~

Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota, points out some interesting facts concerning the 2000
Presidential election:

1. Population of counties won by: Gore: 127 million; Bush: 143 million.
2. Square miles of land won by: Gore: 580,000; Bush: 2,427,000.
3. States won by: Gore: 19 Bush: 29 (yet Gore almost won the Presidency)
4. 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 living off government welfare."

Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the "complacency & 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.

Pass this along to help people understand just how much is at stake, knowing that apathy and immorality are the greatest dangers to our freedom.

**lesta311** · 05-16-06, 08:35 AM

Very good points in that article. It does make you speculate the state of our nation in the next 25 to 50 years. I almost feel sorry for todays youth, since they are going to have to deal with the problems that arise from today. The way things change, it seems we are always fixing the problems from those that came before us and passing ours along to the next generation.