From Apathy to Dependence

Some text about "The Fall of the Athenian Republic,"
that is often attributed to Professor Alexander Tyler
of the University of Edinburgh was written about
the time of our Revolutionary War, and states:

"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 due to loose fiscal
policy, which is always followed by a
dictatorship."

As a nation we seem to have arrived at this stage

"The average age of the worlds 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."

Iron County seems to have missed out on the
earliest stages of this sequence because the
US, as a nation, progressed before this region
was settled with any significance.

The paradigm isn't absolutely fixed. It can, and
in the past, has been altered by the mere will
of the people. We are in the apathy to dependence
stage right now. John Archocosky and the Iron
River City Council determined that any program
of economic advance in must be self-sustaining
before being undertaken despite the fact that
literally nothing else in this county (and most
of the state, for that matter) is or has been for
some time. The simple fact is that anything worth
doing has a period of initial growth that needs care
and nurturing during the initial stages. There is no
project that shows profit on day 1.

Look at us. Our communities are unable to buy
so much as an occasional dogcatcher's van without
an outside grant of some sort. Grant seeking has
itself become a favorite local enterprise.

The challenge is to find leadership that keeps the
final transition "dependence back into bondage"
from working in a community with an aging and
collapsing population. One of the presumptions
for economic progress is growth in population.
And that's achieved by providing opportunities,
by keeping home grown talent here, and bringing
in additional talent as needed.

Do we need to actively import leadership as well?

If we do, then perhaps we should be working on
that as a community. The sad fact, however, is
that at present we don't seem to have enough
leadership within the community to seek strong
leadership for the community.

Or do we?

Bill Vajk

For the source of the quotations above please see:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/ballot/athenian.asp