Democracy

I received an e-mail last week that quoted a Newsweek article entitled, "We Are All Socialists Now" I guess it was written in response to the $800 billion stimulus package signed by Korihor a.k.a. Obama. Anyway, it basically said that our country is becoming more like France. It threw out some statistics about the GDP, government spending a decade ago was 34.3% now it's 39.9% of the GDP, and how the gap is closing between the United States of America and European countries, whose government spending is in the 40%-50% range of GDP.

As our government keeps growing and we head more towards being a socialist country rather than a democracy, I find this next quote very interesting.

“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. 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 complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage. “
Alexander Fraser Tytler (1747 to 1813) Scottish history professor

Doesn't that sound familiar? loose fiscal policy? Gifts from the public treasury? $800 billion stimulus package! It all comes down to greed. Greedy bankers giving loans to people who can't afford them, greedy citizens wanting handouts from the government, and greedy politicians. In this last election did the citizens of the United States of America not vote in the candidate who would give them the greatest gifts from the public treasury?

To those of you who have studied The Book of Mormon, doesn't the cycle of democracy look familiar?

Righteousness and Prosperity
Pride and Wickedness
Destruction and Suffering
Humility and Repentance

The cycle of righteousness and prosperity to pride and wickedness to destruction and suffering to humility and repentance which leads back to righteousness and prosperity and so forth continued many times in The Book of Mormon. I'm not sure of the timelines but it seems like it was about a 200 year cycle. Isn't that interesting?

I would say that we are in the apathy to dependence stage in our democracy according to Alexander Tytler's cycle. People are very apathetic towards the government and politics. I don't really like politics but I feel it is my duty as a citizen to let my voice be heard and to vote for who I feel would be the best candidate for any political office, or any issues that might be on the ballot. I have always made an effort to vote since I turned 18. Isn't it sad that more people vote on American Idol than vote in political elections?

Why is it that so many people feel like the government owes them something? Why is it the government's responsibility to bail out people who make poor decisions? Is it my job to pay my neighbor's mortgage because he bought a house that he couldn't afford? Why should people who make wise decisions, and who live within their means, have to pay for the mistakes of greedy, unwise people who are in debt because they are living beyond their means? Should future generations have to pay for mistakes being made now? I fear we are in a downward spiral in our democracy. If I did the math right, we are in the 233rd year of our democracy. Which is 33 years beyond the life expectancy of a democracy. With the current administration, Obama, our democracy doesn't stand a chance.

That's my two cents.