Democracy
I received this in an email from my dad... just found it 'interesting'. (Disclaimer: I do not consider myself to be a republican; however, I DO have a conservative ideology, so I imagine that I will tend to vote republican due to the fact that voting for one of the minor parties would basically be a waste of my vote since for all practical purposes we are a BIpartisan nation)


At about the time our original 13 states adopted their new constitution, in the year 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at The University of Edinborough, had this to say about "The Fall of The Athenian Republic" some
2,000 years prior:

"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 that 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 worlds greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:

From bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage."

Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota, points out some interesting facts concerning the most recent
presidential election:

* Population of counties won by:
Gore - 127 million
Bush - 143 million

* Square miles of land won by:
Gore - 580,000
Bush - 2,2427,000

* States won by:
Gore - 19
Bush - 29

And, most revealing of all.....

* Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by:
Gore - 13.2
Bush - 2.1

Professor Olson adds:
"In aggregate, the map of the territory Bush won was mostly the land owned by the tax-paying citizens of this great country. Gore's territory encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off government welfare..."

Olson believes the U.S. is now somewhere between the "apathy" and "complacency" phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy; with some 40 percent of the nation's population already having reached the "governmental dependency" phase.

Chapter 11
The bible says to 'Pray continuously'. This can be done by using many 'breath prayers' througout the day; just brief sentances or simple phrases that can be repeated to Jesus in one breath. Practicing the presence of God is a skill... at first you need to create reminders to bring your thoughts back to the awareness of God.

We don't praise God to feel good, but to do good. The goal is not a feeling but a continual awareness of the reality that God is present.