 Quote by BobG
Okay, one that a famous politician actually did quote, even though the quote is not attributed to him (the politician also attributed it to the wrong person, which actually isn't surprising knowing the politician).
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A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts 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.
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This quote is usually attributed to Alexander Tytler (sometimes with the last name misspelled). Alexander Tytler was a Scottish historian in the 1700's. A real quote from Tytler:
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"Patriotism always exists in the greatest degree in rude nations, and in an early period of society. Like all other affections and passions, it operates with the greatest force where it meets with the greatest difficulties ... but in a state of ease and safety, as if wanting its appropriate nourishment, it languishes and decays." ... "It is a law of nature to which no experience has ever furnished an exception, that the rising grander and opulence of a nation must be balanced by the decline of its heroic virtues
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So the cynicism is true to his general attitude about democracy, governments, and nations in general, but he never actually said the paragraph about people voting themselves gifts from the government. Earliest known use is in a letter to the editor in an Oklahoma newpaper in the 50's.
None the less, Ronald Reagan loved this quote and wanted to use it in a speech supporting Barry Goldwater's run for President. I'm not sure of the reasoning that went into the use of that quote. One could almost imagine someone telling Reagan that the quote was bogus; that Tytler never actually said that. But he really wanted to use that quote, bogus or not. So he not only used it, but doubled down and invented a reference for the quote as well - "The Decline and Fall of the Athenian Republic".
Except Tytler never wrote a book with that title! How fitting - a quote that never existed referenced to a book that never existed. And, in a way, less deceptive than just using the quote alone. I mean, after all, it was Ronald Reagan, who was a pretty decent actor long before he became a politician.
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