Qui Reponendi Sunt Te Salutant - Part Three

[Part One]
[Part Two]

“Too much is never enough.” -- original motto of M-TV

When a society bases status on the ability to possess property and control energy -- especially if that energy is human labor -- those on top make sure they stay there while those in the middle seek to elevate themselves to the top by acquiring more property and control.

The vast majority of human beings -- the ones actually doing all the labor that simultaneously creates the wealth yet adds to the costs -- typically are content to live modest, stable lives.  They desire enough to eat, adequate shelter, and peace with their neighbors.

They’re fully capable of providing their own entertainment, art, and small luxuries.

This is not to say the advance of science and technology hasn’t benefited them.

We’re currently living in a golden age where the vast majority of infants survive to adulthood, where medicine gives hope to those who otherwise would have died miserably, where technology makes our lives far more comfortable and easy.

Until fairly recently, the paradoxical challenge facing the ruling elites is that in order for them to gain more property and control, they needed more laborers to provide it which in turn required more managers to oversee them.

Historically the easiest way for the ruling elite to acquire more property without incurring more labor would be to take it from someone else.

One would be hard pressed to find an empire not built on that idea.

Stolen wealth could boost the status of the elite, but it also reduced the cost of domestic labor and rewarded the managers who kept things running smoothly.

This was the normal state of affairs until the Industrial Revolution.

Even more than the spread of gunpowder, the Industrial Revolution made it possible to kill far more people far faster and at greater distances than ever before.

The American Civil War is arguable the first truly modern war with self-propelled warships, near instantaneous communications via telegraph, mass-produced rifle cartridges to speed up the carnage, and railroads bearing supplies and troops to enable the Union to more efficiently pound the everlovin’ crap out of the rebellious Confederates.

World War One introduced radio and submarine warfare, but most importantly the airplane, which let humanity -- and especially the ruling elites -- know there was no city / island / mountain redoubt out of reach of a determined enemy, no place they could ever feel safe again.

World War Two dramatically upped the technology with radar, guided missiles, long range liquid fuel rockets, and of course, the atomic bomb.

Until the outbreak of the Ukraine War in 2014 (full escalation in 2022), Europe and the major Western powers enjoyed the longest period of peace they’d ever known in history, 69 years without a major conflict.

© Buzz Dixon

[Part Four]
[Part Five]