The folly of democracy

Alexander Fraser Lytler (also Lord Woodhouselee) had it right:

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.

And for evidence I present you a snapshot of the British public's sympathies and their overwhelming socialist tendencies:

Pagan challenges Piers

The dialogue below is a few days old but it's still great to see an atheist challenging a self-confessed Christian: Piers Morgan on the basics of the faith.

It reminds me of an exchange Christopher Hitchens once had with a Unitarian minister, who proclaimed that:

“I am a liberal Christian, and I don’t take the stories from the scripture literally. I don’t believe in the doctrine of atonement (that Jesus died for our sins, for example).”

To which Hitchens replied: “I would say that if you don’t believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ and Messiah, and that he rose again from the dead and by his sacrifice our sins are forgiven, you’re really not in any meaningful sense a Christian.” 

Amen, pagan!