The Tytler Cycle of History

Originally Published December 5, 2010 

Let’s start right from the beginning and say that Alexander Tytler (or Tyler) may or may not have written this around 1787. Tytler was a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh and said this about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2000 years prior:

A little internet search will offer many people claiming credit for this. I’ve included a few articles with different information. At this point I think the concept is as or more important than the author.

"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 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 due to 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:

1. From bondage to spiritual faith:

2. From spiritual faith to great courage:

3. From courage to liberty:

4. From liberty to abundance:

5. From abundance to selfishness:

6. From selfishness to complacency: a feeling of quiet pleasure or security, often while unaware of some potential danger, defect, or the like; self-satisfaction or smug satisfaction with an existing situation, condition, etc.

7. From complacency to apathy: absence or suppression of passion, emotion, or excitement

8. From apathy to dependence:

9. From dependence back into bondage "

I believe that the message is more important than who actually said it. So I’m just going to stick with Tytler.

There are several good articles about this and one that I found very helpful was by John Eberhard  http://commonsensegovernment.com/article-03-14-09.html  He breaks the American cycle down like this:

 

“From bondage to spiritual faith               (1760 to 1769)

• King George III becomes King of England
• Currency Act, Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Quartering Act, Townsend Act passed by Parliament
• Sons of Liberty formed by John Adams, Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, John Hancock, Patrick Henry, among others.

“From spiritual faith to great courage     (1770 to 1783)

• Boston massacre
• Parliament passes the Tea Act
• Boston Tea Party
• The First Continental Congress
• Revolutionary War rages for six years
• British surrender at Yorktown 

“From courage to liberty                            (1784 to 1865)

• Constitutional Convention
• George Washington elected President
• Bill of Rights passed
• Abraham Lincoln elected President
• Confederate states secede from the Union
• Emancipation Proclamation
• Civil War rages for four years
• Union is restored
• 13th Amendment abolishes slavery

“From liberty to abundance                                   (1866 to 1969)

• First Trans-Continental Railroad
• Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone
• Industrial Revolution
• Airplane invented December 17, 1903
• Neil Armstrong walks on the moon July 20, 1969

“From abundance to complacency                      (1970 to 1989)

• Roe vs Wade
• President Nixon resigns in disgrace
• Oil embargo
• Ronald Reagan elected President
• Fall of the Soviet Union

“From complacency to apathy                  (1990 to 2000)

• Gulf War
• Bill Clinton elected President
• Gridlock between Congress & President leads to budget surpluses
• President Clinton acquitted in impeachment trial

“From apathy to dependence                    (2001 to 2007)

• Nasdaq stock bubble bursts
• 9/11 attack
• Department of Homeland security created
• Hurricane Katrina 

“From dependence back into bondage   (2008 to ????)

• Housing prices collapse
• Financial firms collapse
• Government bailouts  
• Federal Reserve lowers rates to below 1%”

This is an abbreviated version of Mr. Eberhard’s theory you can go to his site to read the entire article.

If you’re interested in the controversy of who actually came up with this cycle a good article can be found by Loren Collins titled “The Truth About Tytler” at http://www.lorencollins.net/tytler.html

The most important part to remember is we can still turn things around. People are starting to wake up and pay attention. The election of 2010 sent a huge message to Washington that once again “We the People” are watching. Combine that with another Spiritual Awakening and all things are possible. I choose to live in the possible.