Thursday, October 30, 2008

Ok, Ok, I Give In

I am going to finally "talk politics" - but only in a quote by a very neutral party from a very long time ago. I'm not going to tell you the radio show that I heard this quote on, it might spin it and shade it in a certain light - and I don't want to do that - I just want the quote to speak for itself.

(Disclaimer: This show that I got the quote from, is not even a show that I listen to with regularity, the host of this show drives me crazy with his "chicken little, the sky is falling" approach - so if you have recognized this quote, just know that I don't always agree with that guy...) Your curiosity is killing you now isn't it.

"A democracy is always temporary in nature. It cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time the voter 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 world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years civilizations have 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."

- Lord Alexander Tytler, 1770s

This quote totally sums up what my head has been thinking for quite awhile now and from my view it is the road we are heading down now....I'm not quite sure where I think we are at on that progression (or digression, depending on your perspective) but probably somewhere in the complacency/apathy/bordering on dependence area.

When we continue to look to our government for a hand-out or a social program every time a need arises we basically are saying goodbye to the self-reliant, focused responsibility, and statehood of our forefathers. But that's just my opinion....so who do you want your dictator to be? Yeah, I'd rather not think about it either.

3 comments:

RK said...

Great quote! And well said...diplomatic yet concise. You're good. :o)

PS...I voted tonight. Phew...glad that's over with! Guess who I picked for treasurer?? :o)

vicki sue said...

Wasn't our country founded on religious freedoms? Didn't our ancestors come to this country because of their need and ours to be able to worship God and Jesus freely without government telling them who and when to worship or how to worship? I didn't see anything about God in this quote. I know things do not look good now but God is still in control, if His people who are called by His name, repent and turn back to Him,He will hear and heal our land. As Christians, we have to unite and do this or we will go by the way of past civilizations. You know God doesn't want us to be cynical but to turn to Him in trust. I know you do, Jess. We, as Christians, have been too passive and let things pass. We can no longer do that. We have to stand up for our Lord and Savior!This is the time to do that. Love you, Jess and it was good seeing you and the kids almost a month ago now. Whew! where does the time go?

Jessie said...

You are absolutely right Vicki, and I think the reference to God in that quote goes under the "spiritual faith" he mentions in the second paragraph...

I do see America in general as very apathetic and complacent right now and we seem too dependent upon our government...I really hope we can wake up, turn back and start at the spiritual faith beginning again before we fall to pieces, but like you said God is in control no matter what our outcome. Working in a church sometimes can make me cynical because I sometimes don't see people too willing to give of themselves to reach others for Christ and that's very discouraging.

Love you too and you are right, time passes way too quickly!