--
Chris Hoffmann
Student Pilot @ UES
30 hrs
"Tom S." wrote in message
...

In 1797, in a letter to an American friend, Lord Thomas MacCauley
wrote:


Whoops, better make that 1857.

Blah, blah, blah
The average age of the world's greatest democratic nations has been
200
years.


I'm no expert on the history of world's greatest democratic nations, but
I
can't name one prior to 1797. Any idea what country(s) exactly this guy
might be babbling about?

Your knowlege of history is, like...non-existant.

Yeah. Well, thanks for the list of countries anyway. Unless you're referring
to ancient Greece, or Rome, or India, I believe most modern democracies
have had their origins in the mid 18th century. (Those 3 ancients lasted a
LOT longer than 200 years...) I'd also like to point out that the majority
of countries which have reverted to dictatorship after a period of
democracy, have since gone BACK to democracy.


It may be true that we'd all like a bigger slice of the public treasury,
but
it's also true that we'd like to not need to contribute so much to it in
the
first place.

So you AGREE with MacCauley?

What am I supposed to be agreeing with? Most people are capable of
understanding that money doesn't grow on trees. The trouble is having
representatives who can't or won't tell their constituents that the well is
dry. Or who say that the well is dry when it isn't.
I take issue with his assertion that we're going to vote ourselves into debt
until we collapse under it. Not that it's untrue, but he doesn't seem to
allow for the idea that people will eventually get wise to what they're
doing TO THEMSELVES. Hopefully before a coup, but sometimes not. When we
taxpayers see the 30-40 percent taken off the top of our paychecks while our
favorite programs being cut or eliminated due to lack of funds, sooner or
later we will start to wonder what exactly it is our tax dollars are being
used for. But I sure as hell don't think that anyone is going to decide that
we'd be better off with an authoritarian government.


The federal budget surpluses of the 90's might save Bill
Clinton's legacy,

And who was the "fiscal power" during those surpluses?

The Republicans in the House and Senate. I didn't say it was fair.


while George "D is for Deficit" Bush may follow his
father's economic path to onetermship.

Again, the wisdom of the "people" is apparent, especially the ones who
consistently score in the 10-20% bracket on quizzes regarding economics.

We DO value fiscal responsibility in
this here country, Jack.

And those "deficit's" you just mentioned? How about the Long Term
Liabilities (as opposed to cash/current deficit) that run into the teens
of
TRILLIONS of $$$? How 'bout that, Jack?

I'll worry about that when whoever is supposed to be collecting on it wants
us to pay up. Anyone who allows a multi trillion dollar debt to acumulate
against them ought to be prepared for a disappointment when they expect
payment due.
Perhaps I misunderstood, but while the economy was good and the gov't had a
surplus, weren't we supposed to have been "paid up" within a decade or so?
Until Dubya decided to spread the wealth? Yeah...$300 sure bought MY
vote.....Yessir.....