Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Tyler Speaks

It seems like every day we’re hearing of another multi-billion dollar bailout. I believe it bears repeating what was said over 200 years ago about the fall of the Athenian Republic by Scots Historian Professor Alexander Tyler, circa 1787:

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse (generous gifts) 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, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship."

There it is folks. A nation of fools will we be if knowing history, we simply repeat it. It’s up to those who know the truth to take a stand if we are to see our nation spared from the consequences proven through all of history to be our fate if we continue on the current path. Tyler also taught:

"The average age of the world's greatest civilization has been two hundred 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 complacency; from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, from dependence back into bondage."

I'd say we're presently between the apathy and depency stage. What do you think?

At the very core of this entire issue is our collective trust in the King of the Universe. Remember, it was Ronald Reagan who taught us that,

"if we ever cease to be one nation under God, we will be a nation gone under."

That’s the bottom line. No economic plan will save us from the bondage that befalls nations that turn their backs on God. This, too, is proven by history. It is my constant prayer that our nation will turn back to the God of our Fathers. Only then will there be real “hope” for a future of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

It must begin with the people of God. Church leaders must rise up to the call or we will have to answer to our children and grandchildren for the liberty lost, because of our complacency. God has always had a people, a faithful remnant willing to sacrifice "our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor." I'm confident He still has.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for those quotes from Professor Tyler, which I have heard them in the past and never knew who penned them. It is so true that the further we depart from faith, the closer we get to self enslavement by the government. When and if we find the determination to come back to founding principles, the pendulum will again swing in the right direction. Unfortunately, so many either do not remember the lessons of history or have received a revisionist copy of it.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for those quotes from Professor Tyler, which I have heard them in the past and never knew who penned them. It is so true that the further we depart from faith, the closer we get to self enslavement by the government. When and if we find the determination to come back to founding principles, the pendulum will again swing in the right direction. Unfortunately, so many either do not remember the lessons of history or have received a revisionist copy of it.