
Source: The Fighting Pattons (1997) by Brian M. Sobel, p. 101
Hearts and Minds (1974), a documentary of the Vietnam War [1:17:35 onward]
Source: The Fighting Pattons (1997) by Brian M. Sobel, p. 101
Preview; lead paragraph
The Administrative State, 1948
NPR: Excerpt: The Best of I.F. Stone (5 September 2006)
Monotony http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=96&cat=1
Collected Poems (1992)
As quoted in Convergences (2005) [second edition] by Robert Atwan, [Bedford/St. Martin's. p. 403]
2000s
This is a variant expression of a sentiment which is often attributed to Tocqueville or Alexander Fraser Tytler, but the earliest known occurrence is as an unsourced attribution to Tytler in "This is the Hard Core of Freedom" by Elmer T. Peterson in The Daily Oklahoman (9 December 1951): "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."
Misattributed
Variant: The American Republic will endure, until politicians realize they can bribe the people with their own money.
“The unique character of political activity lies, quite literally, in its publicity.”
Source: In Defence Of Politics (Second Edition) – 1981, Chapter 1, The Nature Of Political Rule, p. 20.
So I gave Apple a month; they made me an offer, and I refused.
Programmers At Work (1986)
“What the American public wants is a tragedy with a happy ending.”
As quoted in French Ways and Their Meaning http://www.archive.org/details/frenchwaysandthe00wharuoft (1919) by Edith Wharton, p. 65
Variant:
What the American public always wants is a tragedy with a happy ending.
As quoted in A Backward Glance http://archive.org/details/backwardglance030620mbp (1934) by Edith Wharton, p. 147