Devon Patriot

The Obituary of Democracy

In 1887 Alexander Tytler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, 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 great courage to liberty; 
From liberty to abundance; 
From abundance to complacency; 
From complacency to apathy; 
From apathy to dependence; 
From dependence back into bondage." 

In Britain’s case its status lies between the “apathy and dependency” phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy.

If this analysis was applied to the United Kingdom the timelines would probably look something like this:

Bondage (1066 - 1530)

The Norman conquest in 1066 heralded the start of an age of bondage for the common people.  Under the feudal system their land was confiscated, and they were reduced to serfs and peasants; little more than slaves to the ruling elite.  The Roman Catholic church was of no help as it too owned large swathes of land confiscated from the peasants.  It was the Black Death that caused a shortage of labour, so enabling the serfs to charge more for their services, with many serfs becoming tenant farmers and land-owners.

Spiritual Faith (1531 – 1577)

The Roman Catholic church had been the dominant source of Christian teaching since around 500AD, but its doctrines were being questioned by protestant reformers like Wycliffe and the Lollards.  Henry VIII’s reformation of the Christian church in England resulted in the birth of new protestant sects such as the Baptists, Methodists and Quakers which were churches created by and for the people.  In Scotland the Calvinistic church established itself under the guidance of John Knox.

Great Courage (1572 – 1833)

Francis Drake’s circumnavigation of the world was the first of many courageous acts undertaken by the British people.  But great courage also applies to scientific discoveries and engineering advances where people like Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday and Richard Trevithick had the courage of their convictions to challenge old established practices and seek innovative solutions to a variety of problems for the advancement of mankind.

Liberty (1834 – 1953)

The case of the Tolpuddle Martyrs was one of the first in which a popular protest by the general public resulted in these men being pardoned for the alleged crime of combining to form an agricultural Friendly Society in opposition to a reduction in their wages.  This was the start of many reforms that liberated the working man from exploitation by rogue employers, unfair representation in the law courts and the right for his children to have some form of education.

Abundance (1954 – 1964)

After WW2, and when rationing ended in 1954, Britain entered the peak of its achievements.  Its people were still wholesomely indigenous with little immigration.  The post-war house building programme meant that the housing shortage was over, and housing now became affordable for the average family.  People could now afford to own cars.  Unemployment had virtually disappeared, with social mobility at its peak.  British industry still made high quality products.  What could possibly go wrong?

Complacency (1965 – 84)

Because everything was going well for the country the people became complacent, and ignored the warnings by the prophetic politician Enoch Powell that unless immigration is stopped, then the future of Britain would be bleak.  For people of the late 1960s life was easy, and a culture was born that challenged the status-quo; consequently all the high moral, cultural and educational values that prevailed were trashed and replaced with unproven trendy concepts which were later to prove disastrous, especially in the education and upbringing of our youngsters.

Apathy  (1985 - until today)

The political system within the UK has now become very remote from the voting public.  Most of our laws are now made by the unelected representatives of the EU Commission, with the EU Parliament merely voting to accept or reject the legislation.  The first past the post system makes it impossible for minor parties to have a voice in the UK Parliament.  Consequently, most people feel disenfranchised and are apathetic about voting; as the attached diagram illustrates.

Dependency 

Britain is a very small country which can only sustain a population of some 27 million.  With a population approaching 70 million, Britain is becoming evermore dependent on imports for the essentials of survival such as food and energy.  The Islamic countries of the middle east are fully aware of this and are using Britain’s dependency on their oil to import Moslem immigrants and their ideology into the UK.  The ever-rising Islamic population will only reinforce this dependency.   

Bondage

Successive governments’ failure to tackle the immigration problem will ensure that indigenous Britons become a minority within 25 years.  In another 30 years Islam will be the dominant force in British politics; and within 40 years Moslems will be a majority of the population.  This will lead to Islam becoming the state religion with Christians facing persecution and having to pay a tax (the Jizya) to practice their religion.   The bondage for women will be even greater, having to wear the full veil and undergo the barbaric practice of FGM (female genital mutilation) to retain their virtue.