Issue #6: Democracy in Decay
Day 4,282, 09:22
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Published in United Kingdom 
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by
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by Ebrietas
Theme: Democracy in Decay
"The tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy."
- Montesquieu
"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 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.
-Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee, (attribution of this, along with the next quote, is debatable; both quotes are first recorded as appearing in the 1900s, though they do fit Tytler’s greater body of work)
The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations 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 selfishness; From selfishness to complacency; From complacency to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage."
- Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee, (see above quote)
"Republics decline into democracies and democracies degenerate into despotisms."
- Aristotle
"Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty."
- Plato, (no, not that Plato, the original one)
"The tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy."
- Montesquieu
"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 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.
-Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee, (attribution of this, along with the next quote, is debatable; both quotes are first recorded as appearing in the 1900s, though they do fit Tytler’s greater body of work)
The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations 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 selfishness; From selfishness to complacency; From complacency to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage."
- Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee, (see above quote)
"Republics decline into democracies and democracies degenerate into despotisms."
- Aristotle
"Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty."
- Plato, (no, not that Plato, the original one)
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