I’ve been looking without success for a quote I wanted to use for my sig line during this political season.
I’m probably mangling this unmercifully, which is also probably why I can’t find it, but here goes:
“The state can only survive so long as the populace does not realize that they can vote themselves largess from the public treasury.”
Or something to that effect.
I believe the author was Roman, and was referring to the ‘bread and circuses’ policies of the Roman empire during its decline.
Can anyone help a poor ignorant Doper?
The guys name is Alexis de Toqueville, but I’m pretty sure I’m spelling his last name wrong.
Tocqueville. I was close. Look him up on Britannica – they probably have that quote in there somewhere.
Tocqueville talked about politicians bribing the American people with the people’s own money. I can’t find the exact quotation, though. Tocqueville was not Roman, however, so that may not be what you’re thinking of.
The phrase “bread and circuses” comes (I think) from Juvenal, a Roman satirist. He said of the average Roman citizen Duas tantum res anxius optat, Panem et circenses {“He only thinks of two things: Bread and circuses.”)
Thank you jmullaney and bibliophage,
I haven’t found the quote yet, but I’ve had a lot of fun chasing Monsieur Tocqueville throught the internet so far.
If I ever do find it, I’ll post it here.
Lots of boolean searchers on the web, like Alta Vista, and they’re actually pretty easy to use.
A search for “largess and treasury” yields this:
“Eighteenth century Scottish historian Alexander Tytler postulated: ‘A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until a majority of voters discover that they can vote themselves largess out of the public treasury.’”
You can always call your public library for stuff like this. (If a public library reference department doesn’t know how to do boolean web searchers, complain to the board.)
Thank you maralinn!
That was the quote that was running around in the back of my mind.
I remember about boolean algebra. My problem seems to be convincing the search function that when I say ‘and’, I mean ‘and’, not ‘or’.