The following was submitted by a reader and old friend (Charlie Radigan) and is recommended for your perusal and reflection:
Trying to make sense of the 2012 election results, I soon realized it all makes sense when discovering quotes from important people from our past. The position we are now in has been predicted. For example, Alexis de Tocqueville in the 1800s said, "The American Republic will endure until politicians realize they can bribe the people with their own money." Thomas Jefferson said, "I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." Phil Steffen said: " Never underestimate the power of very stupid people in large groups." Samuel Adams said, "When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the Republic."
There are many more quotes that accurately predict the economic and political mess we are now in and what lies ahead for America. My favorite has been attributed to Alexander Tytler professor of history at the University of Edinburgh in the late 1700s. He reportedly wrote: "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 due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship."
Is that what lies ahead for America? Often the outcomes of complicated problems become easily predictable when the problems are reduced to simple forms. It is frightening to me what lies ahead for my children and grandchildren because of "the power of very stupid people in large groups" who gave us the sideshow we now have in Washington. A housecleaning in 2016 is our only and last hope, if it is not already too late.
Ned
Crockett
Irvington,
VA
(Reprinted from the The Rappahannock Record)
