About the time our original thirteen states adopted their new constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years earlier:
“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 they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury.
From that moment on, the majority always vote 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.
The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, those nations always progressed through the following sequence:
1. from bondage to spiritual faith;
2. from spiritual faith to great courage;
3. from courage to liberty;
4. from liberty to abundance;
5. from abundance to complacency;
6. from complacency to apathy;
7. from apathy to dependence;
8. from dependence back into bondage”
Taking this scholar's view into account, using evidence, and comparing what we have already learned to date, answer (using your new rubric criteria) the following: Where are we and how long do we have?
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We are currently between complacency and apathy. Some people are blissfully content in their seemingly perfect life while not realizing that many parts of our world are breaking. For example, the housing market is so bad that many are losing everything they've worked for. On the other hand, quite a few people have realized the dangers we are in, like the global warming crisis. Here, I would add a note/optional. There are a lot of people who know of the troubles and are apathetic & unhelpful. But there are also all the groups who dedicate so much time and effort into fixing the world's problems, and they should have a catagory along with the apatheitc ones.
Next is dependence, which is overlapping and being started now. If things continue, we will owe too much money to too many different countries and not be able to recover. As it is, our debt to China is overwhelming, and we import almost all of our goods. We won't "belong" to another country, like in the beginning, with England, but essentially we won't be able to continue without constant support from the rest of the world.
I do agree that we are between the complacency to apathy stage. Some people in this country are loving where they are right now. Everything is going fine for them. Whereas the others, the majority are really not so happy as to were they are in the country's economy. The most common example that was already stated was the housing market. We wouldn't be in such a horrible state in the economy and government right now,had banks not given loans to those who couldn't pay them.Those people who wanted those big houses were dependent on the banks to give them the money. The banks which then gave them money soon realized they couldn't pay them back. Thus the evil cycle we are in currently.
I believe that this country has moved past step six and on to level seven. The first four steps are obviously well behind us. A lot of colonists came here looking for opportunity and religious freedom. From this feeling of rebellion came great courage, and then there was the Revolutionary War. After that, we were very well off for awhile and this country quickly rose up to be a world leader. Everyone in the country was quite pleased with themselves for this accomplishment, but then people began to take this wealth for granted, and it began to disappear. vast amounts of money were spent on imports and failed projects. Now we are starting to depend on our government to bail us out, and on other countries around the world, but this is just one of the valleys most countries encounter in their existence. The great depression could have been interpreted as step seven, but we bounced back from that. Also there is no step mentioning internal conflict like a civil war. This list is not a one way road. I am sure that this country can rebound from the terrible skid it has just gone through.
Where are we on this progression? We are as Cap'n Raja Seabeard said pasing through apathy and into dependence. The first five steps have happened quite long ago. Then we come upon step 6 and complacency which means a feeling of quiet pleasure or security, often while unaware of some potential danger. This step happened somewhere in the 70's or 80's where are economy was stable and not yet in the economic crisis that we are in today but soon about to happen. That leads us into step 6. Here we are coming out of complacency and into apathy. Apathy meaning absence or suppression of passion, emotion, or excitement becomes seen less and less in the eyes of the American people. In the 70's and 80's times were good and there was opportunity for all. The stress and burdens put on us today were still non existent. Apathy came in the mid to late 90's when war and the failure of the stock market came.People began to lose faith in their government and apathy began setting in. We are like I stated earlier moving slowly but still moving out of apathy and into new dependence and into step 7. The American people are becoming tired of this feeling apathy and want to do something about it. Their leader has wrongly blinded them and now they are ready for a new leader to guide them out of apathy and into a new dependence. The people are standing behind this man and he will get the job done. In the 70's and 80's we were in the state of complacency. In the early and mid 90's we were in apathy and now in the early 21st century we will push forward into dependence.
So how much time do we have? We don't have to wait very long at all because that day of change is upon us. And even if we needed it( which we don't) we have all the time we need to make a change.
We are somewhere within dependence because no longer do people not care about what's going on. More issues have arisen and the numbers of voters has greatly risen. People do care about the current state of our country yet we rely so heavily on foreign commodities like cheap labor in East Asia and oil from the middle east. We have become a consumer nation that has grown spoiled by the ease of which we used to live. However, 9/11 changed us into a mindset of vigilance and paranoia. People are not tucked away in their own little world like Mabel and skcowgirl think. they fail to see the increasing popularity on foreign intervention and the constant discontented voices of our society.
I too believe that the United States is currently in the transition from apathy to dependence, which happens to be part 7 in a chain of events that take place during the use of a democracy by a government. Our nation’s complacency or feeling of security occurred after our transition from courage to liberty during the Revolutionary War. The result of this complacency being, of course, our separation from Britain and our writing of the Declaration of Independence. After being separated from Britain’s control, people then started flocking to America in a large abundance. This showed how Americans felt a feeling of security in this Nation. Immigration still occurs frequently throughout the U.S. today, due to this reason. This sense of security has been going on for quite a while now, and people are staring to experience apathy, or lack of interest, toward government affairs. They started to feel so secure with the government that they did not think that hardly anything could go wrong. All was ok in American's eyes until the drastic fall in the Stock Market about a month ago that caused our current economic disaster. Now, because of this, Americans are becoming wearier of the government, which could sadly lead to a group inside of the U.S. wanting to become dependent from the American government- a democracy.
We are currently in stage 7 from apathy to dependence. The government was apathetic to other countries and wanted to reform the other countries governments, such as Iraq. Then gas prices started to go out and the US realized how dependent that we are on foreign oil. The US is dependent on other countries now because we owe them so much money that we borrowed to finance the war.
We are also too dependent on our government for money. After the bad subprime mortgages loans the country went into a crisis. The homeowners couldn't afford their homes because they were dependent on the banks to tell them what they could and couldn't afford. Everyone needs to learn to spend what they HAVE. The companies that became broke were dependent on the on the government to bail them out, which the government did. A significant change needs to be made in the government soon to allow the country to remain a democracy for a while.
Honestly, Miss Holiday is finding herself torn on this topic. I am jumble between 5,6, and 7. I'll do my best to explain.
First of all, I always struggle with developmental philosophies like this because although they do provide insight into the "processes of history", these processes always seem to be delayed in some way by historic facts. So I would say that the stages are only what would take place if the unpredictable events of history did not intervene, but they always do which is why I have trouble. :)
Anyway, in choosing where we are as a nation and where we are with our government I agree with others that the first four steps have come and gone. We have learned from our attempts and success in bonding, finding personal faiths, achieving great courage, rooting ourselves in liberty, possessing an abundance of resources, and finnally settling into a quiet pleasure or security unaware of some potential danger. This self-satisfaction of our current condition is the complacency. I myself many times feel content and happy with the life I lead. Of course, at times, I feel compassion for those in our world who are suffering, I fear for our country and the economic status, and I struggle to know all that is going on around me in politics, in the war, and even my own financial status. However, I confess, and I think that I speak for many when I say that unless it is directly affecting me right now, it is not at my utmost attention and in the number one slot on my priority list. Many individuals in the US, myself included, are not feeling the full effects and therefore are not doing much to help improve our nation as a whole. This being said, I feel we are on stage six.
However, I do not think we are in a complete stage of apathy. Meaning we do not have a full absence of interest or concern to emotional, social, or physical life. That concept became a concern a while ago after the First World War, when it was called "shell shock". Soldiers who lived in the trenches amidst the bombing and machine gun fire, and who saw the battlefields strewn with dead comrades developed a sense of disconnected numbness and indifference to normal social interaction. So, are we expeeriencing this now? No, I don't think so. Therefore, we must be past that stage which would mean we would be on level 7.
Governmental dependency, is definitely a part of our lives. Living off welfare or in government-owned tenaments are just a few examples. Losing touch with reality causes a decline in productivity and the need to rely on someone else to pull you through.
So, my answer may be confusing, but it is what it is. As for how long do we have? I'll answer with a quote from US educational philosopher Robert Maynard Hutchins about the concerns of political indifference:
"Death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment."
I believe that we are somewhere between apathy and dependence. People have noticed the direction the country is going in and have started to try and make changes. As cap'n tobias said, the number of voters have risen, in a great hope to make change. We rely too much on other countries to do our work and get our goods from that now we can't afford it and therefore are even more dependent on them. As pink jeanie galindo said, we have also become too dependent on banks to tell us what we can and can't do that it has caused many crisis' in our housing market. Instead of taking care of themselves, people have become too dependent on others that now, just as the US is to other countries, they are even more dependent cause they owe so much money to others.
The United States were created nearly 300 years ago and yet still is the strongest power in the world.
Over time it has traveled through different periods of bondage to Britan to the faith brought about by revolution. Through this faith people were able to build great courage and this is when the revolution began. The fore fathers of this nation stood up for what they believed in and created a new nation. This courage lead to liberty and a free nation. This free nation then lead to an abundance of people and wealth. And for many years citizens have lead stable lives inwhich there were no complaints. The nation has come to a stage where the economy has hit its peak and now is becoming to decrease leading people to have great apathy and concern. A nation that was once able to stand on its own has the need for foreign exports. A believe that we are stuck in a limbo between stages 6 and 7.
"Civilization is the process in which one gradually increases the number of people included in the term 'we' or 'us' and at the same time decreases those labeled 'you' or 'them' until that category has no one left in it." ~Howard Winters. Aslong as the nation fens for its own well being and minimalized the dependence and deplomacy in foreign nations, this country can be strong for many years to come.
Without the government more that 97% of the nation would not be able to survive and live day to day lives. With a strong tentative government at hand that has the best intrests of the citizens of the nation, this cournty will stand strong. The moment one loses sight of the fact that other countries don't have to depend on America, and America MUST help others this country will be in shamnbles.
We are in apathy and going into dependance. We are nearly at dependance and do not have much time left at all. There are many perfect people in our nation today and a lot more of those people who do not care. We are to dependant on foreign oil and take oil and such for granted. For example why don't people recycle? It isn't very hard just stick all the plastic and paper in a bin and put it on the curb on Friday morning. It is that simple, doing things like that will make the world cleaner and people will feel better about themselves and our world will not be so dependant on everything. People need to stop being dependant on things like money, go out in the town and find a job to help live their everyday life. People need to also make better decisions in life and our world would be in a lot better position and not so dependant on everything.
Hmm, what can I say? The USA, at the moment, is on one of those hidden mid-steps between stages 6 and 7. Based on what I hear, read, and see from time to time, there's certainly a great deal of apathy and dependency out there. There's enough complacency floating around to confuse about the country's status, though.
The reasoning for the entire mid-step deal here is that there are people who are completely and utterly satisfied with things as they are now, meaning they're all set when it comes to a home and all that very important jazz. This is a gigantic generalization we all know isn't true for everybody in the whole wide world, but most people just want to look out for their own interests and, so long as they are and can continue to be happy and healthy, wouldn't care if the rest of the world went without them to hell - perhaps with the current economy - in a handbasket. I say "we're" not fully out of the complacent stage only because there isn't a crazy amount of apathy out there - it's more hinted at. There's a lot of forward thinking, not a whole lot of forward doing.
The apathy part is surfacing fast, though, and I can get a sense why sometimes. Aside from those random happy-go-lucky people, most people are getting frustrated over the economy, war, pollution, global warming, etc.. Maybe it's because they feel stuck because change (oh, what a sickeningly overused word lately!) isn't happening rapidly enough. Some just feel none of these things are worth any effort - trust me, some people in my family feel that way. Not really sure what else to say about apathy, it is what it is and covers just about everything from "Ugh, the price of milk went up, I wish it'd go down" to "The economy is crashing/etc. and bad things will most likely befall me and I can't do a damn thing about it".
Finally, dependence; first of all, more people around us have had to resort to relying on welfare just to get by day to day. The US itself, mostly because of the war and such, needs more money and we all know that the word "debt" is followed by "debt repayment", which in no way I can see would mean "yay, time for a well-deserved break from what we've gone through, everybody" anytime soon. So, obviously, we rely on other countries to an impressive extent (you know; "Made in China" and such) for weird things like clothing and toys and other things made in great quantities. Then there's that whole issue that people & businesses are relying on illegal immigrants for cheap labor, all who are obviously from another country...do we rely as much on ourselves as we have in the past? Doesn't sound like it, but how can we tell, I guess?
So...with all of this and the 200 year span idea, the USA being a little different from a dead-on democracy, and the fact that even on the downward spiral it'll clamber to keep things together until the end, I'd give us at most 50 more years, but that seems a bit generous. I would definitely say 35-50 years.
I believe we are in stage 7. I feel we have not totally reached apathy. So many people don't even care about some huge issues in the world. Yes, many people are interested in the upcoming election, but what about the still, dieing soldiers in Iraq? Everyday more die and we are so used to it now. People haven't quite grasped the apathy yet. But i say step 7 because some people have reached apathy, you see more and more poeple making an effort to recycle and things such as that. And there are also signs of the nation depending on the government and other countries. For example in the stock market, the government basically bailed all those men out. Men who should have been penalized for what they get away with. But no, we depend on the government to figure things out. Also you see more and more dependence on other nations. For things like oil and other things we largely import. So i would say most of the nation is on step 7, but some have yet to grasp the whole apathy thing!
We have definitely past through at least the first five stages, although many people may have gone on to the sixth and seventh stages as a nation, we are still somewhere around the area of stage 5.
I forgot to state that I think according to the path we are on right now and with the election of the president tomorrow, the state of the nation can only become better or or completely deminish. I would say that the United States has quite awhile before it would be classified as a former great civilazation.
As a nation, we are currently between complacency and apathy. We are too used to having everything we need as a whole; we have not had anything to "shake us up" in quite a while. That is to say, we have not had anything to shock us out of our complacency and back into abundance. Strangely enough, there are many different types of things that could happen to accomplish this. A war, on our own turf, perhaps. Maybe a crisis that would take the organization and cooperation of the entire country. Something, anything, to wake us up enough to realize the extent of which we can better ourselves. If we continue farther, from apathy to dependence, we become a burden on society; a country that recieves aid, instead of giving it. As a nation, we have twenty years until we reach that point. The lowest point of our nations descent will happen in sixty to eighty years, when our entire system will fall into bondage, and the American people will suffer.
I believe we are somewhere between apathy and dependence. As cap'n tobais knocknees said, nobody cares whats going on in our country anymore. The economy is in a downward spiral, yet many choose to ignore that, and continue their lives as usual. We depend on cheap oil from foreign countries, as well as cheap labor. (kinda just restating what cap'n said) Our country has indeed become spoiled. And because many of us have yet to be greatly effected by the economy disaster, we choose to ignore it. Im not sure what will change this, but i know its going to get worse before things get better
I believe that our country is between apathy and complacency. as mabel jeffries said, we are in our own little world, where we are pretty safe from anything that could ever make us uncomfortable, while other countries in the world have to do almost anything to get by. Some people are too thickheadded to realize that other people in the world are out there, and they need our help. We shouldn't be rolling in money while other countries have to sit around in the dirt.
Captain Tobais Knocknees has the right idea. The average U.S. citizen is very ignorant of the rest of the world. We are in the stage of apathy and dependence. History repeats itself consistantly, so it is safe to say that the stream wealth of this country is seeing its last decades. It will be interesting to see what happens. The money in the United States in concentrated in areas where it should not be: sports, entertainment, special education programs, trade of "nic-nacs" and cheap clothing with Asian countries, etc. It should be focused on education, renewable energy technology, and health care. Alexander Tyler's theory may be proven if Americans continue to live the way they are living now.
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