Democracy viewed in 1787 (#227, Topic P)

From time to time, my brother-in-law forwards me interesting e-mails he received from others. A couple of days ago, he sent me the following, written in 1787 by History professor Alexander Tyler at the University of Edinburgh: "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 dictorship." He continued: "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." According to Law professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University in St. Paul MN, "United States is now [2006] somewhere between the 'complacency and apathy' phase ... with some forty percent of the nation's population already having reached the 'government dependency' phase." Very interesting. Most of Tyler's observations, made some 220 years ago, are equally valid now. However, on one point, I think Tyler got carried away -- he somehow used greatest civilizations and democracy synonymously. While a democracy may last some 200 years (Tyler's analysis is based on the Athenian version of democracy [#188]), a great civilization lasts much longer -- in China's case, some 25 times longer, and counting.