GWB & Gore last election. What you think??

[lostone1413]

> At about the time our original 13 states adopted their new constitution, in
>
>the year 1787, Alexander Tyler (a Scottish history professor at The
>
>University of Edinborough) had this to say about "The Fall of The Athenian
>
>Republic" some 2,000 years prior:
>
>
> "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 finall! y collapse due to loose
>
>fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship."
>
>
> "The average age of the worlds greatest civilizations from the beginning of
>
>history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these 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."
>
>
> Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul,
>
>Minnesota, po! ints out some interesting facts concerning the most recent
> >Presidential election:
>
>
> Population of counties won by:
>
> Gore = 127 million
>
> Bush = 143 million
>
>
> Square miles of land won by:
>
> Gore = 580,000
>
> Bush = 2,2427,000
>
>
> States won by:
>
> Gore = 19
>
> Bush = 29
>
>
>Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by:
>
> Gore = 13.2
>
> Bush = 2.1
>
>
> Professor Olson adds:
>
>
>
> "In aggregate, the map of the ter! ritory Bush won was mostly the land owned
>
>by the tax-paying citizens of this great country. Gore's territory
>
>mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and
>
>living off government welfare..."
>
>
> Olson believes the U.S. is now somewhere between the "complacency and
>
>"apathy" phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy; with
>
>some 40 percent of the nation's population already having reached the
>
>"governmental dependency" phase.
>
>
>
> Pass this along to help everyone realize just how much is at stake in this
>
>Election Year and that apathy is the greatest danger to our freedom.
>
>
> God Bless America! Think before you vote!

 

[Darkmind]

Wow that was kind of freaky reading that progression type of thing.

 

[ralphie98]

I would think our country is somewhere in step 5, from abundance to complacency. We definitely have abundance of everything we could possibly want in this country and I can see the complacency kicking in.

That Gore/Bush breakdown does make sense, and seems to backup what my unprofessional eye has noticed just through casual observation. People who want to be hand-fed by the government will always vote for Democrats because they want the "generous gifts from the public treasury".

 

[R.H. Lee]

Yep. And we're just standing around watching it happen........

Slip slidin’ away
Slip slidin’ away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you’re slip slidin’ away

I know a man
He came from my home town
He wore his passion for his woman
Like a thorny crown
He said delores
I live in fear
My love for you’s so overpowering
I’m afraid that I will disappear

Slip slidin’ away
Slip slidin’ away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you’re slip slidin’ away

I know a woman
Became a wife
These are the very words she uses
To describe her life
She said a good day
Ain’t got no rain
She said a bad day’s when I lie in bed
And think of things that might have been

Slip slidin’ away
Slip slidin’ away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you’re slip slidin’ away

And I know a fa-ther
Who had a son
He longed to tell him all the reasons
For the things he’d done
He came a long way
Just to explain
He kissed his boy as he lay sleeping
Then he turned around and headed home again

Slip slidin’ away
Slip slidin’ away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you’re slip slidin’ away

God only knows
God makes his plan
The information’s unavailable
To the mortal man
We work our jobs
Collect our pay
Believe we’re gliding down the highway
When in fact we’re slip slidin’ away

Slip slidin’ away
Slip slidin’ away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you’re slip slidin’ away

Slip slidin’ away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you’re slip slidin’ away

 

[Standing Wolf]

I think sometimes we're at the end of a golden age.

That saidâ„¢, old guys always think things like that.

It still might be true.

 

[Silent-Snail]

Wolf I'm barely 21 and I agree with you whole heartedly

 

[cloudkiller]

Part true, part BS

I agree on some of the points the professor made. I will grant you that. BUT PLEASE think for a moment.

> "In aggregate, the map of the ter! ritory Bush won was mostly the land owned
>
>by the tax-paying citizens of this great country. Gore's territory
>
>mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and
>
>living off government welfare..."

This is BS.

1. If they mean welfare as in "not getting a job" welfare, you are talking about a relatively small % of the population. You would think from this quote that there were tens and tens of millions of these social leeches doing nothing and just claiming checks. If you mean other forms of welfare such as disability or social security, or farm subsidy, etc. then you can't make a case for either party benefitting. How many recipients of Social Security vote Republican. How many recipients of farm subsidies, or people who graze on federal land that might otherwise have been sold to some huge agribusiness and fenced off from other cattle ranchers vote Republican? Lots.

2. It is a real political and social phenomena that people of low socioeconomic status vote at very low rates. That is why efforts by the dems to have more poor and minority voters enrolled through motor-voter bills, etc. have been met with much resistance by the right, because actually GETTING such people to vote would strongly benefit the left. There is a myth among conservatives that this massive group of welfare-recipient non-WASPS continuously affects national elections by voting in droves to increase government spending on themselves. The fact is, they don't exist in very large numbers, they don't tend to vote at a high %. -- The fact that people try to increase gov't spending is very real. However, their motives for doing so probably fall more under the "bread and circuses" category.

In a time when oil prices are at all time highs, oil companies are profitting enormously, energy companies have screwed the public out of billions with corrupt accounting, we are at war in an oil producing region doling out contracts to select energy companies while supporting corrupt oil-producing regimes, do we really think that personal welfare spending, rather than corporate welfare spending, is the bigger threat? The two are probably linked.