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Hugh Hunter's avatar

What a great piece. I think you’re exactly right about the analogy between the Praetorian Guard and the security services of today. Do you think it’s naïve to think there is occasionally a third thing between democracy/republicanism and dictatorship where for brief moments of history we might have a ruler who unites his lords in the shared pursuit of virtue? Plato thought the sword of Damocles hung over tyrants, because they had to use fear or manipulation to control the men around them. That’s why the tyrant is the most unhappy of men. Plato’s idea of a philosopher king is someone who does not suffer in this way because his men understand that he is doing what is right. It's the kind of leadership a father has in a family, and I guess we have the archetype of Camelot for this...

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Wheel Cool's avatar

Fantastic! It seems this is the nature of humans and government institutions throughout history; in that, what starts out as necessity morphs into corruption, greed and rot as the people employed to carry out the tasks become drunk on power and use their status and/or position to enrich themselves to the detriment of society as a whole.

I read somewhere that the most cohesive and benevolent society is compromised of around 150 people. Past that, those empowered to make decisions have less regard to make any decisions that don't directly benefit themselves.

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