On Sat, 23 Mar 2013 10:59:46 -0400, wrote in
Re two ways to
conquer and enslave a nation:


A famous French political philosopher back in the 1700s
said that democracy cannot long endure, because soon
enough people will figure out that they can vote themselves
the treasury. And now it's happening here.

Do you mean this?

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 cannot 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"


There is some dispute that this is an actual quote

But no dispute as to the validity of the premise.