Initial GOP debate thoughts

I found an interesting old email today. I'm not really awake enough to comment on it, but I thought I should repost it for later reflection. It's about time I start seriously examining the GOP candidates. The debate in South Carolina was the first I've watched, and I'm still not sure who I like the best. Newt has the longest and worst history, full of hypocrisy; I like both Santorum and Paul, but I get the impression that Santorum is too young / inexperienced and while Ron Paul has a strong following, I don't think he can win the nomination of the GOP. As a moderate, Romney might have the best chance to win. But I really need to do a thorough investigation and comparison of the candidates' positions on the economy, foreign policy, illegal immigration, taxes, energy, and health care. I hope Newt doesn't get the nomination, he's the only one I really dislike.



In 1887 Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinborough, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior:

"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 that 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 over 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, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:

From bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage."