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This reminds me of a quote: “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themsel
by r4vik 15y ago
This reminds me of a quote:
“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.”
― Alexis de Tocqueville
- tokenadult 15y agoThe quotation you mention was not said by de Tocqueville: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Misattributed http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Misattrib... http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Fraser_Tytler#Unsourced http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Fraser_Tytler#Unsourc...
- roc 15y agoWhich sounds nice, but doesn't seem to account for all the voting for austerity and smaller government that we've seen in Western democracies.