The 200 Year Cycle...?

I read this in an e-mail the other day and thought the information worth passing on. I’m not sure who wrote the original piece but there are things in it that need to be called to the attention of every American. The United States of America is a Constitutional Republic the likes of which has never been seen before. None of the democratic societies in the past have survived for more than 200 years or so. We have been here for 235 years. Our time may be getting close and from the events occurring in the last decade or so it seems that’s the case.

Our Constitution was written by intelligent men who put provisions in the document to prevent the Republic from falling. However, over the years our politicians have found ways around the Constitution and the rule of law to make changes and make things happen the way they want. Both parties are guilty and it’s only getting worse. The e-mail reads as follows:

In 1887 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 finally collapse over 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."


Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul , Minnesota , points out some interesting facts concerning the last Presidential election:

Number of States won by: Obama: 19 McCain: 29

Square miles of land won by: Obama: 580,000 McCain: 2,427,000

Population of counties won by: Obama: 127 million McCain: 143 million

Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by: Obama: 13.2 McCain: 2.1

Professor Olson adds: "In aggregate, the map of the territory McCain won was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of the country. Obama territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in low income tenements and living off various forms of government welfare..."

Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the "complacency and apathy" phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy, with some forty percent of the nation's population already having reached the "governmental dependency" phase.


With the number of people who do not pay taxes consistently growing it’s clear the numbers who are becoming dependent on government for their daily needs are growing as well. And while some will view it as racist (because that’s a quick and easy answer to something they disagree with), amnesty for illegal immigrants will only contribute to the numbers dependent on government and will increase the number of voters who favor government handouts and subsidies over personal responsibility.

Our Constitutional Republic, as it is, is in jeopardy. The timing is right and the ever growing attitude of Americans that government is the answer to their problems is eroding at the very fabric that has held the country together so far. And while some advocate a socialist government as the norm in the United States, others still work to prevent it from happening. Unfortunately, progressivism in this country is spreading to both parties and both are moving in a socialist direction. Conservatism, both fiscal and political, seems to be disappearing rapidly, even though, in this writer’s opinion, it is the only philosophy that will ensure the United States of America survives as the Constitutional Republic it was in the beginning.

As much as I want to disbelieve it, it is possible I will see the downfall of the United States as a free Republic and world leader in my lifetime. Our current administration seems bent on taking us down a peg; apologizing for America and making sure the world understands that we’re no better than anyone else even though we have been a beacon of hope and good in the world for over two centuries. We have been the most generous, the most helpful and the most concerned about other nations of all the countries on Earth. Yet we need to be taken down a bit?

I wonder – if America is so bad, one has to wonder why it is that millions of people are still trying to come into the country every year?