About the time our original thirteen states adopted their
new constitution in 1787, 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 earlier:

“A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply can-
not 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 vote 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, those 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

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