I’ve shared the following quote on Townhall before, and I want to again because I think it is extremely relevant to America’s current situation, as witnessed by the midterm elections. It is from historian Sir Alexander Fraser Tytler, over 200 years ago. It’s not a pretty quote; it’s not optimistic or hopeful. It’s just… history:

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.”

Contrary to what we seem to think, Americans are not intrinsically or constitutionally superior to other human beings who have walked on this planet. Our country had the extremely good fortune of being founded by brilliant men who tried to establish principles that would guide the nation into freedom, virtue, and prosperity. But Americans, suffering from the same faults and foibles all humans suffer from, have rejected those principles, and consequently we find ourselves near the end of Sir Tytler’s sequential progression noted above. No, it’s not pretty.

Eventually, all nations, peoples, and........

© Townhall