Change TO CHAINS - Sioux Falls, South Dakota Tea Party

Cycles in Civilizations
They could not imagine they would someday decline or
disappear from the stage of human history. Jacques Attali wrote in “The
West and the Tyranny of Public Debt” (Time Magazine, 12/27/10):
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History offers one final lesson. The power
of sovereign states can foster a sense of impunity
that encourages excessive debt.
It is a recurring theme in human behavior, rags to riches to rags.
Out of the crises of poverty, an immigrant grandfather begins
with nothing, works hard at manual labor, starts a business and
accumulates savings. He sends his son to college, who learns to manage
the family business causing it to flourish. Then a lazy, self-indulgent
grandson comes along who squanders the family’s wealth.
Human beings display behavioral traits, and since civilizations
are comprised of human beings, civilizations display behavioral traits.
Will and Ariel Durant wrote in The Lessons of History ( p. 86):
Man is a competitive animal...his State must
be like himself.
Daniel Webster stated in his 4th of July Oration, 1802:
Man, in all countries, resembles man.
Wherever you find him, you find human nature in
him and human frailties about him.
Thomas Jefferson wrote in his Notes on Virginia, 1782:
Human nature is the same on each side of the
Atlantic, and will be alike influenced by the same causes.
Civilizations are like athletes. Out of the chaos of
competition, a young athlete begins a disciplined training with a selfdenying
ethic. He is focused on winning the prize, achieving his goal
of being the best in the world.
After years of competition, he flourishes and becomes the
champion, reigning and enjoying his status and acclaim.
CHANGE TO CHAINS - WILLIAM J. FEDERER