The Tytler Cycle Suggests A Democracy Only Lasts 200 Years

Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee was born in October, 1747. He was a Scottish historian who served as Professor of Universal History at the University of Edinburgh. Tytler is often credited as predicting the fall of America, suggesting that America will only last 200 years according to the model. We are talking about the Tytler Cycle.

It’s not actually known if Alexander Tytler penned these words, but he is often credited with them. However, the characterization of the man is apt. Tytler had a negative view of Democracy and government in general. One verified quote by Tytler reads, “All government is essentially of the nature of a monarchy”.

If he did say or write these words, we could summarize Tytler’s beliefs in the natural progress of democracy, “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury.“

Tytler goes on, “The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.”

America will only last 200 years the Tytler Cycle. — America will only last 200 years according to the model. We are talking about **the Tytler Cycle**.

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The Tytler Cycle

One of the first mentions of the Tytler Cycle is from a 1951 edition of the Daily Oklahoman.

Two centuries ago, a somewhat obscure Scotsman named Tytler made this profound observation: “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits with the result the democracy collapses because of the loose fiscal policy ensuing, always to be followed by a dictatorship, then a monarchy”.

Read this block commonly attributed to Tytler:

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

Tytler is famous for The Tytler Cycle which shows the pattern that democracies tend to follow from start to demise to rebirth and repeat.