Alexander Tytler was a Scottish historian who lived during our country’s founding. Tytler identified the sequences of the “Freedom Cycle” as follows: A society starts in bondage; from bondage it moves to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to affluence; from affluence to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; and from dependence back into bondage.
Tytler organized these items in a graphic resembling a clock starting with bondage at 12 o’clock rotating clockwise to each sequence until full-circle and back to bondage at 12 o’clock. Tytler found societies went through the same cycle again and again lasting roughly 200 years each time.
In 1776, our founders proclaimed through our Declaration of Independence the bondage they experienced from England. Afterwards, the United States experienced a religious revival lasting until about 1850. Our founders exercised great courage in creating our Constitution that was fully ratified by 1789 and that paved the way for a free people. Freedom lead to the industrial revolution of the 19th century bringing with it great prosperity. The 1960s began the selfish “let it all hang out” or “do whatever you want” movement.
Tyler Cowen, an economist at George Mason University, has recently authored a book “The Complacent Class: The Self-Defeating Quest for the American Dream.” Mr. Cowen writes America has become complacent, and the fault lies with us. Can anyone seriously argue that Americans haven’t become apathetic? Depending on the election, a good voter turnout in Bonneville County is an abysmal 20%. And just 37% of Americans can name their Representatives.
As for dependence, American government has become a giant twinkie we can’t live without: Government funded student loans, student lunches, home loans, healthcare, food welfare, minimum wage, social security, housing, subsidies, and the like are staples of the insatiable big government diet.
Unless we act, the next step on the Freedom Cycle is bondage. Venezuelans used to be a free and affluent people. Now they live in a nation of bondage brought on by the effects of socialism. Many people in America want to take us down the same secular socialist path. To stem the effects of pride, we must focus on our moral, religious, and constitutional heritage, and we must be dependent on the God of our faith and not dependent on government. Otherwise, the Freedom Cycle accurately predicts our future fate.
On April 13, 2019, the Bonneville County Republican Party will host its annual Lincoln Day event. Our speaker this year is David Barton, the founder of WallBuilders, an organization dedicated to presenting America’s forgotten history and heroes, with an emphasis on our moral, religious, and constitutional heritage. David is the author of numerous best-selling works and is a national award-winning historian. Our event is entitled, “God and the Constitution.” We’ve selected this theme because we believe our country needs to engage in a “spiritual awakening” if we’re to remain a free people.
To get tickets, search “Bonneville County Republican Party” on Facebook.
