Dear Friends,
It seems to me, the fastest way to political power, is to vilify and destroy the prosperous, while the fastest way to prosperity, is to empower the prosperous, and so political power rises and falls with prosperity. As prosperity rises political power falls, and when political power rises, prosperity falls. Who do I mean by prosperous? The 20% of Price’s 80/20 rule. The prosperous are usually if not always the hardest most efficient workers. While politicians work hard at gaining power over others, the prosperous work hard, at making the lives of others easier. Nevertheless politicians can point to the wealth of the prosperous as proof of villainy. And they have. Ushering in the deaths of untold millions of human beings, by famine and oppression… but amassing vast political power in the process.
The 80/20 rule states that 80% of the work in any organization is done by 20% of the workers. The same holds true of a nation. This leads to Pareto distributions, as the 20% of the 20% of the 20%, etc… adds up. Which means a small part of society gets almost everything done and makes most of the money. Like the Kulaks, the Jews and Elon Musk. When the people who get almost everything done are taken out of the equation, the things they used to do, don’t get done. This leads to famines, technological regress and economic collapse. Spoiled elites who haven’t reached Piaget’s formal operational level are unable to process this though. To them this concept is alien. Like pouring an equal amount of water from a tall glass to a short one, and thinking the tall one holds more.
History is a tale of woe, regarding politicians garnering power by vilifying a prosperous segment of society… to the detriment of that segment and society as a whole. When Lenin wanted power he vilified the Kulaks. The prosperous farmers. “Their prosperity is stolen from you!” Was the mantra. Leading to the extermination of the Kulaks. Often whole families would be abducted by the State, hauled to Siberia in the winter, and abandoned to die in the cold. The result was a famine that decimated the people who cheered the slaughter of the Kulaks. You know who didn’t starve? The politicians who made it happen. That’s who. They took the remaining food and sold it on the world market for ready cash to industrialize the Soviet Union. At the cost of millions of Ukrainian lives.
When politicians exterminate the most productive segment of society, their power surges as a result. That power is accompanied by the loss of the production of those people. So, while the masses have less to work with, less food to eat and less capital to invest… the politicians have more. So the Pareto distribution isn’t solved by political redistribution, from the productive, but is merely switched from being merit based to based on political favor. Which of course, is to the benefit of the politically favored…. the politicians, bureaucrats and their bootlicks. The government’s wealth comes at great cost to the people. Which is perfectly fine… to the pathologically politically favored. The wealth of the nation is destroyed wholesale… but the wealth of the political class is expanded astonishingly.
Vilifying and destroying the prosperous though requires an unwise people. Because a wise people will recognize, they will not only have to work harder if the hard workers are gone, but they’ll face shortages, and political oppression as well. While there will always be some stupid people in any nation, the culture largely determines the percentage. A culture of corruption creates stupid people. History is adamant on this point. Moreover, it makes sense if you consider that, A corrupt people can never be free… as Machiavelli said. Since corruption flows from the top down, a corrupt nation has corrupt leaders. Given that, which choice would our leaders make, increase our wealth or their political power and wealth… at cost to the nation, by attacking the hard working, efficient and prosperous?
Sincerely,
John Pepin
