End of the line
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Give me Liberty
Rodger Williamson
After writing 150 opinion pieces for “The Coosa County News,” I find that it is becoming more and more difficult to come up with new ideas to fill the spaces on a weekly basis. I am basically tapped out for new information. For now, I am forced to recognize this as my last piece for the CCN, at least until I can find new inspiration.
The news remains the same every week, with our federal government exceeding its constitutional limitations at every corner, with both Republicans and Democrats working together to devalue the purchasing power of the dollar and bankrupting our nation. Now more than $34.8 trillion in debt, the interest cost of paying for America’s national debt has crossed the $1 trillion mark annually, leaving the debt per taxpayer at $266,952 each.
Scotsman Alexander Fraser Tytler (1747-1813) predicted the future of these United States when he wrote: “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. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependence back into bondage.”
Novelist G. Michael Hopf condensed Tytlers’ cycle in his novel “Those who Remain” when he wrote, “Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”
Writer Jeff Thomas once laid out in an article for “International Man” the steps which lead to the collapse of an empire. Regardless of whether the Persian, Roman, Spanish, French, or British empires, the Soviet Union, or the presently collapsing Empire of the United States of America, they all have followed these steps:
- The reach of government leaders habitually exceeds their grasp.
- Dramatic expansion (generally through warfare) is undertaken without a clear plan as to how that expansion is to be financed.
- The population is overtaxed as the bills for expansion become due, without consideration as to whether the population can afford increased taxation.
- Heavy taxation causes investment by the private sector to diminish, and the economy begins to decline.
- Costs of goods rise, without wages keeping pace.
- Tax revenue declines as the economy declines (because of excessive taxation). Taxes are increased again, in order to top up government revenues.
- Despite all the above, government leaders personally hoard as much as they can, further limiting the circulation of wealth in the business community.
- Governments issue bonds and otherwise borrow to continue expansion, with no plan as to repayment.
- Dramatic authoritarian control is instituted to assure that the public continues to comply with demands, even if those demands cannot be met by the public.
- Economic and social collapse occurs, often marked by unrest and riots, the collapse of the economy, and the exit of those who are productive.
11. In this final period, the empire turns on itself, treating its people as the enemy.
… I leave you, the reader, to guess where we are in these cycles. I do not claim to be a predictor of the future, but I am a historian who recognizes repeating patterns, and I expect that the future will get more difficult before it ever gets better.
For now, I bid adieu, and wish you each the best.