The Cycle of Democracy

Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, wrote a treatise in 1787, titled THE CYCLE OF DEMOCRACY. In it he made the following observation:

"A Democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasury. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship."

Tyler went on to point out that the average age of the world's great civilizations has been approximately 200 years and that they seemed to progress 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 selfishness
6) From selfishness to complacency
7) From complacency to apathy
8) From apathy to dependency
9) From dependency back to bondage

Hmmm...