We are feudal

 

Feudalism is the natural state of human society, the default setting of our survival drive, and what emerges from the quiet arithmetic of how we each act when we have to adapt.

At its core, feudalism is a simple transaction. A powerful Patron provides physical protection and access to resources. In return, the Client pledges allegiance, works the field, and forks over the cash. Power concentrates in the patron's hands while everyone else pays tribute through profits, tithes, donations, and taxes. In exchange, we buy protection from want, from mistakes, from accident, or from violence.

This is exactly how our corporations, religious organizations, and governments function. A patron is always in charge, whether you call them the CEO, the Bishop, the Director, or the Governor.

It works because democracy and equality are psychologically unnatural acts, while the patron-client transaction is intuitive, immediate, and deeply comforting. Equality sounds beautiful, but in practice, it demands a massive expenditure of energy. Democracy means sharing the blame when things go wrong. Republics require constant, exhausting negotiation.

A patron offers safety by taking the terrifying burden of responsibility off your shoulders. Citizenship and equality are abstract ghosts, but feudalism is intensely personal. Patrons maintain their power by constantly pointing to the wolves at the gate. We do not abandon republics because we hate freedom. We abandon them because when the wind howls, equality feels cold and the castle of the patron looks warm.

So on Monday morning, the kids will pledge allegiance to the symbol of the patron. You will go to work for your boss, pay your taxes, vote for your favorite political patron, and call yourself free.

And if you do not do those things, you might just be a patron. If you think you truly have property rights, if you think others are beholden to you, if you think you can tell them what to do because you pay the bills, you probably are a patron. Or at least a wannabe patron.

Feudalism and patronage is what we are, through and through, unless we all agree to spend the heavy energy required to keep the castle from closing in.

. . . . . .

What is fundamentally broken in the United States is that our patrons deny their basic responsibility to protect us. The American patron wants all the profits, tithes, donations, and taxes to flow upward, but they have no intention of using those resources to secure the castle walls for their clients.

Instead, when the wolves come to your door, the modern patron tells you that it sucks to be you. They wrap this betrayal in the high-minded vocabulary of self-reliance, or they simply tell you that you are lazy. You pay the price of patronage, but you do not get the feudal safety the castle was originally designed to provide.

And that is exactly why revolutions happen. A society can tolerate a lot of inequality, but it will not tolerate a completely broken bargain. When greedy patrons take everything and protect nothing, the clients eventually decide they have nothing left to lose by tearing down the castle.