The Two Santas strategy <https://www.milwaukeeindependent.com/thom-hartmann/two-santa...> is the American implementation of the famous Alexander Fraser Tytler quote: “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.”

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It reminds me of the quote from G. Michael Hopf:

> Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.

Good times have made weak men. People unwilling to stand up for our values. Afraid to even declare what we stand for. Afraid to be proud of our traditions and what makes our way of life superior and worth defending and fighting for. These weak people will vote for candidates who demoralise us and weaken us and ensure our demise.

That is extraordinary insightful. It's frightening to see how correct it is, and to recognise that Europe and the US are both well past the abundance phase.

Otherwise known as anacyclosis. It's a cycle.

that 200 years average does not sound correct. and so the rest actually.

This is some quaint editorial work, and compelling, but this totalizing historical assertion is smuggling a lot it assumptions into the conversation.

> they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury.

It isn't 2024 any more and you cannot repeat that election campaign.

Under the Trump administration, nothing goes to the voters and everything goes to BigTech, the MIC and Trump's friends.

> The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years.

Sounds like total bullshit. I briefly googled it and apart from AI also telling me that it was total bullshit, the first list I found split the Roman empire in two so it would neatly match the hypothesis!

Someone just thought of that and then found data to fit their neat idea.

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