"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It canonly exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselveslargess from the public treasury. From that time on the majority alwaysvotes for the candidate promising the most benefits from the publictreasury, with the results that a democracy always collapse over loosefiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age ofthe worlds greatest civilization has been 200 years. These nations haveprogressed through this sequence:
*From bondage to spiritual faith
*from spiritual faith to great courage
*from courage to liberty
*from liberty to abundance
*from abundance to selfishness
*from selfishness to complacency
*from complacency to apathy
*from apathy to dependency
*from dependency back again to bondage."
-Alexander Fraser Tyler
