[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 157 (Tuesday, October 27, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2642]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             A USEFUL QUOTE

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. LAMAR SMITH

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 27, 2009

  Mr. SMITH of Texas. Madam Speaker, a friend and constituent of mine, 
Adriel ``Squeaky'' McGill, from San Antonio, Texas, has given me a 
quote that I feel has present-day application. I submit it for the 
benefit of my colleagues and citizens everywhere.
  The following quotation, from 1790 by Dr. Alexander Tytler, Professor 
of General History, University of Edinburgh, is still instructive:

       A Democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. 
     It can only exist until the voters discover that they can 
     vote themselves largess out of the public treasury. From that 
     moment on the majority always votes for the candidate 
     promising the most benefits from that public treasury, with 
     the result that a democracy will always collapse from a loose 
     fiscal policy (burden of large public debt), always to be 
     followed by a dictatorship.

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