This is my improvement (pardon the rough graphics) over the increasingly popular model depicted in the graphic below, which I found at Facebook this morning. I’ll write more about it later, but I’m posting this here for now to facilitate a conversation:
Here is the comment I posted at Facebook:
I don’t think the model represented by the graphic is as accurate as the topic deserves. Only four of the five items represent what the POPULACE does. Tyranny is special, for it represents what the ESTABLISHMENT does BECAUSE of the opportunity presented by the state of the people.
Further, tyranny is a gold bar opportunity (http://www.jackpelham.com/2012/11/18/the-gold-bar-metaphor/) that is exploited incrementally from the moment liberty is established and increases until it (tyranny) is crushed in a revolution (whether peaceful or in war). There will always be tyrants. It is an error to suggest (as does the original graphic) that they somehow sit back and wait until dependence is in full swing before they begin to act.
