A democracy is always temporary in nature. It cannot exist as a permanent form of government.

As Alexander Fraser Tytler noted, democracy will continue to exist until 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 the loose fiscal policies, which is always followed by a dictatorship.

The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. According to Tytler's cycle of democracy, during those 200 years, these civilizations always progressed through the following sequence:

History is repeating itself. Mankind does not learn.

Anton Schramm

Hilton Head Island