Important - please read
 

This is a great read, I agree 100% with the article. No mention of Dems or Repubs, just some hard to swallow truth. People think this is a game, that some of us are just racist, small minded robots. The policies this country is putting in place will ruin it. History repeats itself. Keep putting in govt polices that "help" everyone and you destroy the ability to help yourself. Want an example? Think of Western Expansion in the US a few hundred years ago. What percentage of the people that packed up and moved to the unsettled west LIVED? I bet its the minority. Starvation, Indian raids, etc - claimed most. If that was today's world, the govt. would institiute regulations on who could move west, add all kinds of red tape, all kinds of oversight. We'd never be able to realize the potential of the west because we are too concerned with helping everyone, removing all risk, and thus removing all gain! Americans are RISK takers, get back to your roots!
I've rambled enought...please read below!



The Rise and Fall of America
by Robert Kiyosaki
Monday, October 18, 2010
ShareretweetEmailPrintAlexander Tytler (1747-1813) was a Scottish-born English lawyer and historian. Reportedly, Tytler was critical of democracies, pointing to the history of democracies such as Athens and its flaws, cycles, and ultimate failures. Although the authenticity of his following quote is often disputed, the words have eerie relevance today:

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 voters discover 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 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 to bondage.

Tytler's Cycle and the U.S.

In looking at American history, we can see Tytler's sequence in action. In 1620, the Pilgrims sailed to America to escape the religious bondage imposed by the Church of England. Their spiritual faith carried them to the new world.

Because of their deep faith, the Pilgrims left England in spite of the high percentage of deaths incurred by earlier American settlements. For example, when Jamestown, Virginia, was founded in 1607, 70 of the 108 settlers died in the first year. The following winter only 60 of 500 new settlers lived. Between 1619 and 1622, the Virginia Company sent 3,600 more settlers to the colony, and over those three years 3,000 would die.

In 1776, the Declaration of Independence was signed. From spiritual faith the new Americans were garnering great courage. By crafting the Declaration of Independence, the colonists knew they were essentially declaring war on the most powerful country in the world -- England.

With the onset of the Revolutionary War, the colonists were moving from courage to liberty, following Tytler's sequence. By demanding their independence and being willing to fight for it, a new democracy was born. This new democracy grew rapidly for nearly 200 years.

Then, in 1933, the U.S. was thrown into the Great Depression and elected Franklin Delano Roosevelt as president. Facing total economic collapse, Roosevelt took the U.S. dollar off the gold standard. At the same time, Germany, also in financial crisis, elected Adolf Hitler as its leader. World War II soon followed.

In 1944, with WWII coming to an end, the Bretton Woods Agreement was signed by the world powers and the U.S. dollar, once again backed by gold, became the reserve currency of the world.

After the war, America passed England, France, and Germany to become the new world power. Having entered the war late, the U.S. emerged as the creditor nation to the world. Our factories weren't bombed and the world owed us money. The U.S. grew rich financing the rebuilding of England, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan. The American democracy was transitioning from liberty to abundance -- maybe too much abundance.

In 1971 President Nixon violated the Bretton Woods Agreement by taking the U.S. dollar off the gold standard because America was spending more than it was producing and the U.S. gold reserves were being depleted.

In 1972 Nixon visited China to open the door for trade. What followed was the biggest economic boom in history -- a boom fueled by the U.S. borrowing money through the sale of bonds to China, one of the world's poorest countries at that time. The sale of these bonds financed a growing U.S. trade deficit. China produced low-cost goods, and we paid for them with money borrowed from the Chinese workers.

American factory production, which had fueled the American boom after WWII, was "shipped" overseas along with high-paying American jobs. America was shifting from abundance to complacency. Rather than produce, we borrowed and printed money to maintain our standard of living.

In 1976 America celebrated its 200th anniversary as a democracy. Rather than produce, we kept borrowing to finance social-welfare programs. Over the next three decades or so, America slid from complacency to apathy.

In 2007 the subprime crisis reared its ugly head. And by 2010, unemployment increased to double-digits, even as the rich got richer. Once-affluent people walked away from homes they could no longer afford. The U.S. moved from apathy to dependence.

Today we're dependent upon China to finance our debt as well as fill our stores with cheap products. At the same time, millions of Americans are becoming dependent upon the government to take care of them. If Tytler is correct, the American democracy is presently moving from dependence back to bondage.

Filling the Void

History reminds us that dictators and despots arise during times of severe economic crisis. Some of the more infamous despots are Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and Napoleon. I find it interesting that the U.S. is now dependent upon Chairman Mao's creation, the People's Republic of China, for the things that we buy and the money that we borrow.

To me, this is spooky, foreboding, and ominous. While the Chinese people, as a rule, are good people, my business dealings with Communist Chinese officials have left me disturbed and concerned about the rise of the Chinese Empire. As you know, China doesn't plan on becoming a democracy. With money, factories, a billion people to feed, and a massive military, could they put the free world into bondage?

Although I don't like the way the Chinese do business, I continue to do business in China. I have to. They're the next world power. I cautiously believe that trade, business, and understanding offer better options for world peace and prosperity than isolationism.
Now the Western world must seek to grow stronger financially as China continues to gain power. To do this, our schools need to offer more sophisticated financial education to children of all ages.

This is not the time to be complacent or apathetic. This is the time to think globally. Putting up trade barriers would be disastrous. Instead, it's time our schools train students to be entrepreneurs who export to the world rather than employees looking for jobs that are being exported to low-wage countries.

Please be clear. I don't fear the Chinese. I fear our own growing weakness. Only a weak people can be oppressed. Today, America has too many people looking to the government for financial salvation.

In 1620 the Pilgrims fled the spiritual oppression of the Church of England. Today Americans may need to flee the financial oppression of our own government as our democracy dies. If we follow Tytler's cycle for democracy, our financial dependence will lead us to financial bondage.

Tytlers observations are right on which anyone can see
as it is based on history, common sense, and it's successive truth
is right before our eyes.

I believe we are at the point of, "from apathy to dependence."

I think this is our last chance to vote to take our government back
to it's original purpose, serving the people under the Constitution to produce Life, Liberty and the PURSUIT of Happiness.

I wonder how many people will take the time to read Tytlers work
and not just shrug their shoulders and say, "oh well".

Within the last 2 years there seems to have been an awakening that I can't remember in my lifetime, and I hope others will see the hand writing on the
wall and hold our government servants feet to the fire.

glad Franklin & Co. gave us a Constitutional Republic rather than a Democracy...but we've been dragged down the road of social democracy for the last century and it is indeed the road to ruin...

Tytler's quote has, I believe, appeared here once or twice before. And the response from the more left-leaning members has been, as it is now, silence. Perhaps they think it is too absurd to merit a comment. But they usually muster a quick, snarky comment on what they consider stupid right-wingish observations. Is the quote so obviously true that they are struck speechless. Nah. Maybe the quote, and the similar sentiments made on these threads and other "right wing" sources are tainted because they are not spoken by more acceptable origins such as mainstream media, PBS, academic commentaries. There must be something suspect if something as obvious as this quote is not pouring from the lips of our current mainstream thinkers and politicians. Could someone, Spence, somebody, point out what is wrong with Tytler's observation, or, how it doesn't apply to the drift in American history.

i was talking to my neighbor who told me that the Chinese had bought land in TEXAS
...to drill for oil and are sending it back to China.:confused: wtf

We may be going from abundance to apathy. We are different now than we were 50 years ago, certainly. And I don't think we are different for the better.

We need more signal, less noise.

The boomers are not living up to the high standards brought out by the "Greatest Generation" in managing our country, perhaps Gen X & Y can do a better job.

Perhaps people can be more apolitical and do things in the interest of our country rather than in interest of a party.


Meh, let's see something official on that....

In 1942, Stuart Chase, in his book "The Road We Are Traveling" spelled out the system of planning the Fabian Socialists had in mind; the interesting thing is to look at that plan in comparison to 2010 America.

1. Strong, centralized government.

2. Powerful Executive at the expense of Congress and the Judicial.

3. Government controlled banking, credit and securities exchange.

4. Government control over employment.

5. Unemployment insurance, old age pensions.

6. Universal medical care, food and housing programs.

7. Access to unlimited government borrowing.

8. A managed monetary system.

9. Government control over foreign trade.

10. Government control over natural energy sources, transportation and agricultural production.

11. Government regulation of labor.

12. Youth camps(corps) devoted to health discipline, community service and ideological teaching consistent with those of the authorities.

13. Heavy progressive taxation.

Well, if as you say human nature doesn't change and great civilizations only last 200 years...then we're done for :gorez:

Generally speaking, he's just telling a somewhat spun story (Glenn Beck style even) to make a pretty simple point. I think few would argue that a financially strong US reinforced with independent and well educated people isn't a good thing.

But the implication of the article is that our current trajectory has doomed us towards bondage because of an already established cycle. We're simply following a patten set by history...ah, unless we wake up and change our course.

Do civilizations really only last 200 years and do they really always follow the same patten? That's a pretty good question to ask. Perhaps the facts are just being fit around the policy to create some intrigue.

While we certainly do have real issues in the US, I don't think we're headed for bondage any time soon. I work with manufacturing companies across many industries and see smart, hardworking Americans churning out innovations that make people's life better and drive our economy every day.

Pessimists may want to see things as America slipping but the reality is that other countries are just catching up...largely by doing what we've taught them to do. I'm not sure this is necessarily a terrible thing.

So let's spend less and focus a bit more on our future, makes sense to me, but I'm not sure we're all that off track.

-spence

Oh spence, if it wasnt for those damn trees, someday you may see the forest...

If we can reverse the trend of seeing the Constitution as relative to changing times, and revert back to protecting and preserving it as the foundation which protects us from overbearing government rather than a means to have government do for us, I have confidence that we will remain strong and adaptive to any change.

The point I was making is that if human nature doesn't change, and the 200 year cycle is correct, then we're set up to be at the end of the cycle. Without this device the piece is far less interesting.

As opposed to bondage, of course ;)

Excellent point, although I'm not sure all if this should be considered a failure. Some aspects of judicial activism I think can be seen as having benefited society and some as a detriment. Hindsight is always 20/20.

Agree, there certainly is some truth here that is probably fed by human nature. The outstanding question may be what's really sustainable? Socialism doesn't work, but does that mean some socialistic elements are always negative... or perhaps could they be a positive buffering element in a free market society?

I think the right mix may be optimal. For instance, I believe that Federal funding for university based R&D has produced dramatic returns in innovation that have benefited independent businesses.

The use of the "spectrum" is appropriate here. I approve.

Are we any less handcuffed than we were 50 or 100 years ago? I'm not sure we are, but I would agree we can achieve more.

Most definitely.

As would be expected, I'm all for balance here as well, although I also believe that relativism (moral or otherwise) if not an absolute doesn't have to be linear either.

As an aside, the Constitution was the first app I downloaded to my new iPad. :faga:

-spence

I approve.