“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the Public Treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits from the Public Treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy always followed by dictatorship.
The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been two-hundred years. These nations have progressed throught this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to abundance; from abundance to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependence back again into bondage.”
A quote making the rounds on the retired father e-mail circuit. Author unknown. On its face a conservative favorite as it attacks heavy social program spending, though I think it says more about the general transfer of wealth from future generations to our own. When that fiscal deferment catches up with the society is when things collapse.
