The End of the Republic!

January 25, 2008 by Stephen Palmer 

tytler1 The End of the Republic!Alexander Tytler, a 17th Century historian, studied the rise and fall of nations and taught what we now know as Tytler’s Cycle.

According to Tytler, all nations go from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to freedom, from freedom to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, and from dependence back to bondage.

The critical thing, said Tytler, that leads a nation to switch from abundance to selfishness, is when they vote themselves benefits from the national treasury. Benjamin Franklin showed his understanding of this when he wrote:

“When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.”

The Year America Flipped the Switch

America flipped this fatal switch in 1913, during the Progressive Era, by passing the 16th and 17th Amendments and the Federal Reserve Act, all of which enabled us to vote ourselves benefits from the national treasury.

e95bc2ea93ad0a705c7f018991db7d9a The End of the Republic!The 16th Amendment gave us income tax. Prior to this amendment, the federal government was prohibited from tapping the pocketbook of individuals. They determined their budget, then levied the states for taxes. It was a huge barrier between the federal government and the individual, and it was demolished with the 16th Amendment.

The 17th Amendment changed the way that Senators are elected. Prior to this amendment, Senators were elected by state legislatures, which meant that they weren’t beholden to the people at large, at least not directly. The Senate represented the rich and the states, while the House represented the poor and the people. This scheme of representation was perhaps the single most important key to our Constitution, as it checked and balanced the interests of major factions.

“Forced to choose, the poor, like the rich, love money more than political liberty; and the only political freedom capable of enduring is one that is so pruned as to keep the rich from denuding the poor by ability or subtlety and the poor from robbing the rich by violence or votes.” -Will Durant

The 17th Amendment kicked the legs out from underneath the Constitution. Now, Senators are elected by the people, just like Congressmen. How do they stay in power? By voting more benefits to their constituents. They no longer fight for the rights and freedoms of the states, which means that with this amendment the balance of power swung heavily in favor of the federal government, to the detriment of the states.

They no longer fight against wealth redistribution — in fact, they encourage it. They no longer check and balance the House — they’re joined at the hip, representing the same interests.

Combine the effects of the 16th and 17th Amendments and you have a bloated federal government whose power multiplies like a virus. These two amendments demolished our most critical constitutional checks and balances. They, combined with the Federal Reserve Act, set the stage for the Great Depression, the New Deal, and virtually every form of wealth redistribution in existence today.

They eroded the foundations of our constitutional Republic and swayed us toward the evils of democracy. They allowed us to vote ourselves benefits from the national treasury, resulting in the legalized plunder of one group of people to benefit another.

“…a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.” -Thomas Jefferson

If we wish to transcend the bondage of selfishness and dependence, we must repeal these life-threatening amendments. In the meantime, do your part in keeping our Republic healthy by living a self-reliant life, as well as helping those in need so that the government can stay in its proper sphere of protecting inalienable rights only. The less our citizens depend on the government for their daily needs, the stronger our Republic will be and the longer it will last.

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Filed under: 16th Amendment, 17th Amendment, Liberty, Politics, Self-Reliance, Taxation, Virtue
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Comments

One Response to “The End of the Republic!”

  1. American Dollar worthless and economy collapse by 2010 - Nissan Titan Forum on June 24th, 2009 2:20 pm

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