The Doom of the Elite

Civilization is taught as the history of elites. For five thousand years, the world of cities (civitates) has depended on elites for leadership. Yet leadership gone bad is the oldest story of civilization. Leadership becomes aristocracy. The authority to govern becomes the right to rule. Law giving becomes law enforcement. Duty to defend becomes license to oppress.

The relationship between elites and people—at least in the Western canon going back to Greece and Rome—is a narrative with a constant theme: Successful elites get less and less successful at passing on the leadership baton. Eventually, elites that cease to lead face a crisis of leadership. Crisis can be triggered by famine, pestilence, or war, driving the people to insurgency and revolution. The rise and fall of elites forms a distinctive narrative pattern. Indeed, the leadership vitality and decline of elites looks like a natural cycle, or circle of life.

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