more wisdom from one of those "old, white, rich" founding fathers
***
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN’S SPEECH AT THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, SEPT. 17, 1787
An exerpt:
…I think a general Government necessary for us, and there is no form of Government but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered, and believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in Despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic Government, being incapable of any other. - Benjamin Franklin, Sept. 17, 1787
From the beginning we were advised to be vigilent and involved and to heed the warnings from people like Franklin and writers like Alexis de Tocqueville who visited America and studied this new experiment in "Democracy" and wrote:
"A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury."
and
"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 dictatorship."
It remains to be seen whether we have reached the tipping point from which there will be no return.
We are ever one generation away from seeing it all collapse around us.
The elections are eight months away … and I can see the restoration of liberty from my front porch.
I hope it’s not a mirage, but if we fail, I hope our grandchildren and their children know how hard so many of us tried to preserve our freedom ... and theirs.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN’S SPEECH AT THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, SEPT. 17, 1787
An exerpt:
…I think a general Government necessary for us, and there is no form of Government but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered, and believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in Despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic Government, being incapable of any other. - Benjamin Franklin, Sept. 17, 1787
From the beginning we were advised to be vigilent and involved and to heed the warnings from people like Franklin and writers like Alexis de Tocqueville who visited America and studied this new experiment in "Democracy" and wrote:
"A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury."
and
"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 dictatorship."
It remains to be seen whether we have reached the tipping point from which there will be no return.
We are ever one generation away from seeing it all collapse around us.
The elections are eight months away … and I can see the restoration of liberty from my front porch.
I hope it’s not a mirage, but if we fail, I hope our grandchildren and their children know how hard so many of us tried to preserve our freedom ... and theirs.