A polity is described as a middle ground between an aristocracy and a democracy. Somehow we have managed to find the bastard child of democracy and oligarchy without any of the virtues of a polity.
The trick is in the word "our" You and I are NOT apart of THEIR "our". So what they speak is true. But its for us plebs to figure that part out, its not OUR democracy, its THEIRS and they spit that in our faces daily.
More specifically, the unelected administrative state serves the interests of the oligarchs while the citizens are generally asked to pick between one side that sells the general public on the idea of progress and the other side that sells the people on the idea of restoring normalcy.
The United States ia, and always has been, an oligarchy. However a few things have changed since Aristotle. First, the American poor are not getting tougher. They're getting fatter and dumber. They're also more gullible. The notion that an obvious grifter like Trump can deliver them from oligarchy would be hilarious if it weren't so sad. Second, in Aristotle's time there could be no such thing as a birth dearth. A new twist is that it's mainly the rich with many children. Third, American oligarch's are not letting their children degenerate. They usually have a tougher, more rigorous upbringing than the children of poor people. Finally, letting little people play with guns is a brilliants strategy. It allows powerless men to delude themselves they have power, to fantasize about "taking our country back" all of which stops them from really organising. The little people mainly shoot themselves or each other. Lyndon Johnson put it best how easy it is to manipulate lower middle-class and poor white men: "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you"
As long as we are taught to use dualism (Right or Left) to understand power, we will always be Divided and Conquered. The oligarchy's wet dream is to rule the masses with one world government. It's not unity, it is imprisonment. There is no integrity or trust in their idea of a perfect world.
What is even worse is when the parasite class have so much money that they do not know what to do with it they turn to hunger for power and ABSLOLUTE detail control over all peoples lives...
From where I stand, these extremely wealthy men don’t see the rest of us, and play games of one upmanship among themselves. ‘I make more millions than you’, and so on…
The rich don't get happiness from owning wealth, they get happiness from aquiring it. Like how it feels good to buy a new car. They get addicted to that feeling, and want to aquire more and more to keep the dompaine rush flowing.
Not modern world, simply human nature. Or show me a human, _humane_ society...We are just one step Baboons, who kill each other, while we hire others...
@@madworldisrael7584 Not quite. The founding fathers clearly made efforts to create checks and balances to prevent this from happening. But they're just men like the rest of us--they're not perfect. Admirable attempt.
@@svendays the system was quite good, but when all is said and done it got infected with too much democracy. It was all too easy after that to manipulate the masses with promises of freebies and seize control. Once the electoral college falls, the supreme court will fall and that will be the end of the great experiment.
That is why Aristotle is one of the most studied philosophers. Aristotle helped form the basis for Western thought that includes logical thinking, the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, and the workings of politics and power.
I went through this during my education of the public school system. In the fourth grade I was starting to learn about the western days. fifth grade Greek mythology which now introduces all of the men and a lot of Gods. Remember people here were into bestialities', Minotaur, sheeple, and Horseman. Then came the English rule of knights and witches. To bring us here in rainbow village. Where we start it all again for the littles ones to start living like beasts.
Yeah well, first we need them to realize that a lying, irredeemable, draft dodging, narcissistic, sociopath adulterer is not qualified to become president. The explanation in the video is spot on, but it would be advance level rocket science for the maga morons.
Currently in America, neither citizens nor politicians drive policy. Being an old dude in his sixties, I've seen our once representational republic slowly become our present day Oligarchy. This is great video. It explains so much so clearly and concisely. Thank you!
It's funny how you claim to have seen it change. When the Oligarchy was in place at the turn of the last century and got their way with the creation of the Fed. Read prof. Carroll Quigley, he was bill clinton's mentor.
@@geronimo4511 it certainly explains the dumbing down of the USA. The education system keeps getting worse, the culture keeps lurching into ever greater stupidity.
I find it interesting how many modern politicians praise democracy with their speeches but with their actions they clearly endorse oligarchy. Maybe they view democracy as an unthreatening alternative which can be easily controlled? I've never heard any politician discuss the benefits of monarchy or aristocracy.
They choose democracy because it is an intrinsically inclusive system, a citizen of a democracy has political franchise and is therefore not a subject of a government and when the people are (or at least believe they are) the political authority they don't revolt.
One hopeful development I've seen on a local level - our city announced a road expansion, with the destruction of numerous houses and local, small businesses in the newspaper as a fiat. One council member was quoted as saying, "If they won't sell their houses, we'll just take them by eminent domain." Cue local, effective rebellion. Meetings, petitions, protests at the next City Planning meeting, recall petitions and within 2 weeks of the announcement, the plan was cancelled. Groups that formed to oppose this action continue to monitor the situation and update the public to ensure that this isn't reintroduced once the publicity dies down. If we can extend effective action like this to larger cities, states and nationwide, we can protect the interests of the people over the greed of the few.
Aristotle didn’t describe an ancient system. He described human nature as it is. Allowing an educational system to drop out classical writings erases hard learned lessons from the consciousness of the culture. Each new generation states at ZERO if not instructed.
Interesting that no one has ever found any biological evidence for this "human nature as it is" that you claim, yet here I am being enlightened in the YT comments about it. It would be great if the evidence to support this claim were also provided.
He didn't because he believed in idealist variants that do not exist (or, in the best case, cannot last). Only the "degenerate" variants should be considered as realistic (hence democracy is the way to go).
@@Trump2024asw what??? Historians will look back at GWOT as a spectacular display of imperial hubris (which is a great book btw). I’m see your name… Trump completely changed the culture inside of the Republican Party and made it ok to for conservatives to admit that GWOT was a mistake and completely spoke out against using our military for regime change and nation building.
All this happens while the public sit back call their government incompetent. All unaware, these politicians ain't being incompetent. They're doing exactly what they meant to.
Not exactly. Your description applies to some. But many of them do what they CAN do. If they will oppose rich, media will destroy them and they won't be in office anymore. So they try to find some balance... anyway the fact that the state is weak against oligarchs and if the state can't control them, no one can and they rule our world.
Aristocrats or Oligarchs, May the best among us succeed.. No Rome shall burn down again, even if the Tyrants hold sway.. Somehow no Rome shall burn down like it once did centuries ago. The cage is too fortified thanks to modern education and the lack of land owners producing their own food.
To me this is the most confusing thing. Literally every choice they make enriches themselves. They never stop to ask the common man. With the technology today, we could literally have a policy voting app. The only job of these bureaucrats would be enact the voted policies. And yet we still go in with pen and paper and told our votes are counted towards our chosen candidate. They do whatever they want, and people still think they have a say. The only time we get what we want is when it aligns with their desires or to placate us.
A 14-minute review of a big book is not a full description and does not warrant a sweeping conclusion and undescribed plan of action. This is age of corporate wealth evolved from the Industrial Revolution. The "big corporate oligarchy" is not a monolith. It is made up of individuals who have differing opinions and actions. For example, Musk is obviously supporting Trump, a business man who knows how to build a system and produce product followed by increase in revenue. Anther is Zuckerberg who bowed to perceived authority and then reversed and announced his participation, perhaps out of moral dissonance. Who knows about Amazon's leader who seems more interested in building muscle and dating women who go out in public half naked. Other examples abound. The point is that Aristotle is describing a system of building to possible corruption based on observations, much like an anthropologist today. In Ancient Athens Greece, the checkpoints and balance systems did not, or rarely, existed. We do have system of checks and balances the Founding Fathers build into the Constitution based on centuries of examples and their reasoned study of governmental systems. Systems are not perfect and will go out of balance, but a check system can bring things back into steady pattern. Human nature influencing a system results in it going off center and then the same human nature can reverse and equalize a system; physics of movement can explain this process, too. We must observe, too, that this video is written not as the last word on Aristotle, but as a shaded editorial piece using Aristotle to make social commentary on today's situation, which is the situation of societies throughout history. What they did not have is the Constitution. I would suggest a deep read of Aristotle and Plato as well as a deep read into history before jumping to an observation and proposing an action. Action proposals without clear plans tested by feasibility studies is just as bad as an oligarchy rising to power. Micro oligarchies are popping up all of the time; sometimes bubbles collect to form a super bubble, but these burst because they exceed their capacity to expand. Thought is like this, too; a reaction is not helpful. Education on a subject can create a broader view and insight than relying on a shaded opinion of a video, regardless of its source.
@@katherineozbirn6622you mention checks and balances in the system of the USA. And I agree those checks and balances should brings things to equilibrium. But I would also counter with at this point in our history those checks have begin to become corrupted. Yes bubbles come and go. But each cycle makes bigger and bigger swings back and forth. We the humble regular people, the poor and middle class, worry more about getting caught in the crossfire before it finds the middle again. The bigger the bubble the more collateral damage it causes.
@@katherineozbirn6622 USA rules the world and they're not fair. Someone is in La la la land. Trump and Musk are just part of the ecosystem. The inability to see World Bank, IMF with a clear view is baffling. Aristote studied the Greeks who actually ruled the world. USA are the Democracy police for a reason. Is it a coincidence that most of the rich people are in the USA? I hope people see the state of virtue among the American go getters who would step on their neighbour for a few dollars and fame.
@@katherineozbirn6622USA are ruling the world. When you think about power.... Think about the world in relation to USA. Aristotle looked at Greece because they ruled the world. I know Americans think their way is THE WAY until it isn't.
This is bigger than just the USA. This is Planet wide. Our governments are under the control and sway of the trillionaires. The "great reset" continues with the development of the brics alliance. The worlds economy, all of it in every form, is about to be reset into a new model where 99% of human kind will own nothing and never be allowed to. People are mostly sheep and will always follow the herdsmen into the abatoir.
He described most first world countries. Most hide their actions around virtue but it's just an excuse to gain control and shift their own people into power
The oligarchs of the 1800's gave us Teddy Roosevelt. We survived. The middle 2oth century, Reagan arrived -- who ruled better after his time in the wilderness after his failed 1st attempt for the presidential nomination. This century, we have Trump -- who, like Reagan before, has spent his time in the wilderness. Let us pray he helps shove the pendulum. We are fortunate we have term limits for president. Now for congressional term limits -- which we would already have had except Newt Gingrich never wanted term limits when he ran on his contract with America.
This 69 year old American thanks you so much for this refresher course. The state of the US government has been deplorable for decades. Thanks to the internet, independent news and social media, we are seeing the democratic facade crumble in the most blatant manner. I hope that I live long enough to witness the change that is at least on the horizon. Thank you again. Yes, I did subscribe.
People don’t care and they don’t want to be called racist But I for one cannot wait for the iPhone 16 that is mind by children’s bare hands for cobalt and assembled together by slaves in China
The reason why ancient era Greek philosophers' words are timeless is because they studied human nature, by observation, intellectually-honest consideration and after much debate with open mindedness. Times change, human nature doesn't. However worse you think mankind is today (and I'd agree it is), it would be the same back then if these systems matured earlier. Once you get some grip of how humans behave and organize, and on top of that you start seeing all the historical eras and historical figures as true and natural human beings (instead of caricatures or "movie characters", as the modern media makes us see them today), everything starts making much more sense.
You might be interested to read 'Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About The World - And Why Things Are Better Than You Think' by Hans Rosling et. al.
Firstly, humans like any species change until they are no longer themselves, so obviously "human nature" changes. Secondly, human behaviour is primarily determined by social systems and these depend on things like available resources and technologies. None of Politics explains the first 90% of human existence which is almost entirely egalitarian hunter-gatherer bands. Things changed when natural climate change and population growth created a pressure away from foraging to the less nutritious but more space-efficient agriculture whose invention was obviously a necessary precondition. Industry massively increased our productivity and the internet is massively increasing our capacity for deliberation on larger scales.
@@AcidCommunistAachen >humans like any species change There is no evidence for change. >human behaviour is primarily determined by social systems You rationalize your evasion of your immedately experienced power to focus or evade focusing. Nothing but you can cause your mind to focus or evade. Focus is the power that allows your mind to function. Unfocused reasoning is impossible.
Aristotle seems to have made the glaring mistake of believing a monarchy is by definition just and superior of mind. any serious historian knows that all monarchies are in origin a glorified mafia, they ruled by the sword and inheritance, not by virtue of character.
9:20 Consider a "hypothetical" society where the government consistently bails out large corporations which hits the general population with inflation, higher tax... You funny Legendary Lore🤣
Studying Economics in the 70s, a fundamental we learnt, monopolies were bad and oligopolies were little better. Oligopoly is the business version of an Oligarchy. I have, over the years, watched how this fundamental was overruled. I wonder if its still taught today
Its not taught today as far as I know, but to be honest its not the point. I sort of worked it out for myself when I understood that oligopolies are the most likely to be destroyed by rapid technological and cultural change. The best recent example of this is the oligopoly formed by german car manufacturers, the related oligarchy formed by the powers behind the scenes in the form of the quandt family (BMW) and the porsche/piech family that owns VW/audi/Seat/Skoda/RollsRoyce.. and take note of their reaction to the introduction of electric cars... and their sponsorship of anti - tesla protests. So the destruction of the oligopoly formed by german car manufacturers will lead to the weakening of the oligarchy that rules germany.
Some resources are extremely rare so you do sometimes get natural monopolies or oligopolies occurring in business. It's the unfair creation of monopolies and oligopolies that harm society when they actively harm their competitors.
@@savvageorge I dont agree with your comment about oligopolies forming naturally. Again lets take the german car market as an example. In 2021 the EU fined Mercedes, BMW and VW group for colluding to limit the rollout of pollution reduction technology. This was to the benefit of 2 of the top 10 oligarchs in Germany who are majority or controlling shareholders in 2 of the named companies.
@@daveingram8036 I agree car manufacturing should be a fairly open market. I was thinking more about rare natural resources as a potential source for natural oligarchies. Lets say your country has 5 locations with gold deposits underground. You're never gonna have more than 5 gold miners in your country due to the limited locations for gold extraction.
Aristotle's idea of democracy was majority rule without safeguards for the political minority. That is why Thomas Jefferson, in reaction to the excesses of the French Revolution, told James Madison that the constitution needed to be amended with a Bill of Rights.
The Bill of Rights was added on because colonies noticed that it was missing and would not sign on to it until those individual protections were addressed.
The arguments for the Bill of Rights are far older and were ultimately required by the states. Remember the Federalist Papers were originally intended for and widely read in NY state, as was written by Jay and Hamilton both of whom were always in favor of centralized power. Go read the "Anti-Federalist Papers", Letters from a Federal Farmer and Brutus are good places to start when it comes to the arguments there in, Cato and Sentinel as well.
Didn't America start with "Articles of Confederation" in the 1783 era... then was found not to have enough centralized authority... which then lead to the "Constitution" meetings. Isn't that the way it evolved?
This is actually really the most pleasant of surprises: I started watching almost through gritted teeth in anticipation of seeing Aristotle's great thought and forensic social, economic, and political analysis dumbed down to a level which misrepresented it. Instead, not only has what I have seen been faithful to what I read in the book but this video is actually VERY HARD-HITTING in a quiet, understated way. This is TH-cam (doubtlessly unintentionally) at its best. Enjoy until it 'disappears'. In any case, GREAT WORK! You just gained another subscriber.
I'm of similar mind.... the raw math is 50% of us are above and 50% below average 'IQ', this presentation is accessable to a broard group... I can tell.
Aristotle seems to have made the glaring mistake of believing a monarchy is by definition just and superior of mind. any serious historian knows that all monarchies are in origin a glorified mafia, they ruled by the sword and inheritance, not by virtue of character.
I love the concept that you present by stating, "imagine a scenario where...", knowing that what you are saying is currently going on in society as you drop this video. Very eye opening, a great look back into one of the greatest minds of human history with an engaging storytelling. Keep up the good work!
Technofeudalism is what we are moving into. It's still an oligarchy but slightly different than previous established oligarchy. You can even see conflict within technofeudalism between the older oligarchs and the newer ones like the PayPal Mafia.
Excellent presentation! One googly they never bowled Aristotle was the idea that the greatest wealth and power might be accumulated by young people handling technology their parents could not understand. Where does that leave influence and mobility?
2500 years ago, guys with sticks and stones calculate the diameter of the Earth, and perfectly predict political systems. The human mind is pretty awesome
Ancient Greeks were found to have early versions of computers sunk with their ships before they collapsed. To call that civilization people with sticks and stones is hilarious. They weren't hunter gatherers 😂 my god education has really failed us
*been* blinded to it all. Look at the history of education, and you see how school became a preparation ground to make the next generation a bit blinder each passing generation.
Aristotle was wrong. Wrong about Oligarchy being unstable. Today we don't have local Oligarchy but it is world wide. Global Oligarchy and its power increase exponentially every day because they have control of global finance, the most powerful military ever, the most sophisticated intelligence system. Biden was absolutely right about F-22 comment. In Aristotle's time it was as easy as asking for help from neighbouring power; today the average man is disenfranchised, unorganised and technically weaker than a local Policemen. Nobody will leave their comfort of scrolling media and welfare food and shelter for a revolution. Revolution is dead.
Plato's Republic and Aristotle's Politics are publicly available in the United States. It is your job as a parent to educate your children while the public & private school system is merely a tool to achieve the goal. It is your responsibility as a parent to fill in where that tool fails. Take initiative, take responsibility, teach your children these things, dont rely on the system to completely educate your children, your state clearly has limits. There's a ton of whining in this comment section. The responsibility falls on a parent not the state.
and when parents can't/won't?.. many would refute your claim it's their 'job'.. many simply wouldn't be capable of doing it.. others too occupied/tired from earning a living.. and so on.. your argument is easy to flip over
Tired of people saying "What rich people do doesn't affect you" "Rich people aren't the reason you're poor" Yes, they quite literally are the reason, and they are purposefully affecting EVERYTHING to be worse for the rest of us.
@@SAR0311 I think they're very specifically focused on keeping people down, the way education has become unaffordable unless you already come from a wealthy family is straight from the playbook laid out here. They call the rest of us "useless eaters" they want to separate from us while living off of our labor just like it's always played out in history.
Wealth doesn't necessarily mean the desire to control. Look at 20th century history lots of people who came from working class backgrounds gain power that didn't benefit anyone but, their partners. They usually used that "down with the rich" cliche you are talking
As a person born around 1980, it saddens me that society had already peaked in my childhood. The era where society worked for the greater good was the Cold War world order, due in no small part to the elite's fear of revolution that there was an alternative system on the other side. This forced the elites to make concessions which raised the standards and living conditions of the workers. The end of the Cold War also meant the end of this golden era for the working class. Society has been on a downward trend of increasing inequality, increasing social conflict, and increasing conflict between nations ever since. Oligarchy is a very good description where we are at. Interestingly, Aristotle rejected democracy as merely tyranny of the masses, and on this matter, he was right. I can see society evolve towards either tyranny or mob democracy. I don't see a return towards a society of goodwill and high trust in my life time, at least not in Western countries. In fact, the countries where common good prevails today are those who were recently poor and whose people still have good qualities. I think societies like South Korea, China, Singapore, Vietnam might fit this category.
Yes few people realize that the Socialist movement in the 1930's was responsible for the Golden Age of Capitalism, where the middle class achieved 67% of the wealth. After the great depression hit, FDR took huge strides to tax the wealthy appropriately and facilitate unionization of workers. The Fall of Soviet Union meant as you said, that Western governments and the Elite could now stop worrying about Socialism.
The Globalists have gone beyond the classical descriptions of government, by inserting their rule on once sovereign nations. The people are still living under the old form, but that is just an illusion at this point. America will soon be bankrupt, the dollar, which is always being inflated in value, will eventually tank, and what will emerge then ? Enslavement of humanity is in the works. And the elite wants to control everything on the planet. With the current technology available they can track and surveil everything that's going on. Incredible ? of course, but it's here and we're living in it for now, but with all the crises being created, and the end game involves reducing humanity to 500 million, we have Democide, i.e., that killing of the people that the State governs. This cannot turn out well. Yes, it is a perversion and Aristotle points out both sides of the coin. The current situation is certainly unstable, which is good in one sense, because the current Oligarchs cannot maintain their control, but bad for everyone in society that is trying to live a reasonable life. WWIII is likely on the horizon, a very visible horizon, because the Globalist Cabal wants complete control even as it is slipping away from them. And the People are just chattel that they control. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The call for Freedom has never been more in earnest, and seemingly farther away.
@@dormilon36It all depends on where you are. In Europe and Japan 80's were clearly the peak society, but in the USA the peak was decade or two earlier.
Dude that was not the peak. I was born in 1982 and I will tell you right now from every boomer I have talked to the peak of the USA was the 1950s and 1960s. People were buying houses with a single income. A single income provided for a large family of 5+ children. Americans could vacation in Europe dirt cheap (WW2 aftermath) the criminals were dealt with swiftly and the insane were put in asylums rather than roaming the streets as homeless. There was massive optimism and most Americans saw improvement in their lives. There were downsides such as institutional racism especially in the South, and from the non White boomers I talked to they definitely didn't enjoy the 1950s and 60s nearly as much as the Whites for that specific reason. Being denied an apartment, a job, or worse in that era for being a specific race or even religion. But the USA in general was way better off during the 50s and 60s, its important to note that Whites were the vast majority of the US population during that era, like 90% or so of the US population. So while minorities in the South didn't have it so great, Whites did and minorities in the North also had it pretty good. Honestly I have not met a single boomer that thought their era was worse than the 70s, 80s, 90s, etc.
One of the most insightful and damning commentaries on the state of governments across the world. Very well put together. The USA Ausralia the UK Europe all have different foms of Oligarchy. Russia China different forms of tyrany
It is breath taking to learn that wisdom has been around so long it’s just a shame we have stopped thinking! At least not all of us. I hope everyone watching listened closely. Take care
It did exist. The reason Ben Frank said we have it if we can keep it is because it takes constant participation from all citizens to maintain it. But we havent been maintainting and so they slowly took control while most of us were asleep at the wheel. Id say its not too late to take it back but they have us surrounded with their technology. Wheather we revolt or we subit, its not going to be pretty.
@@christmasanimals7119 I have to agree with the first replier: it never existed. My reasoning is at the beginning only land-owning white males were allowed to vote and hold office. Also, the Senate was not an elected body but appointed by state legislatures. The US government in effect started off as a partially elected, partially appointed Aristocracy. You need to ask yourself why so many of the founding fathers and first presidents were very wealthy Southern slave-holding plantation owners or very rich merchants from New England. More participation in deciding government was allowed but it was counter-balanced with the simultaneous rise of ultra wealthy industrial robber-barrons who individually, let alone collectively, could override the power of the Federal government. Our once partially elected partially appointed Aristocracy has since completely devolved into an Oligarchy with the pageantry and trappings of pretending to be a democratic republic.
It's still there, in the very exact same form it has ever been, serving exact same purpose. It's cosmetic, an instruction on how to *appear* not how to be. Every political party _says_ they are by and for the people. Of course they only have certain of people in mind. Don't think it has ever been different. Similar goes for 'protect and serve' by police. They actually loyal to this idea, only that it doesn't refer to the nation and people - but rather to the system and power
In Australia our politicians are now routinely moving from their portfolios into high payed positions within the industry their portfolio covered. They are also making very favourable policy for industries like mining, gambling, and property development. On top of that, they are laying the legislative groundwork to support policies that could, concevably, see me fined or jailed for this post in the future.
Run!!!… and then the question is where? We the people will stand up together when there is nowhere to run. Can they lock all 99% of us up? They are trying.
Democracy is not inherently evil, it just requires a very educated and moral population. Democracy has to come at a time after other forms of righteous governance have provided prosperity enough for the people to be predominantly educated and moral enough to govern themselves, and then give them the power. But yes, it's almost a fantasy land. Perhaps it would work on a small island village.
@@TreaxvourThat is because Aristotle knew the dangers of true democracy from what happened to Socrates. In a true democracy there is a danger of mob rule due to a wave of hysterical panic or an unofficial tyranny lead by a cult of personality.
@@masoudmirmohammadi3479 So did Alexander Fraiser Tytler who said: “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.”
The main problem is people don't see democracy as a deviant system just because they think they have power to elect someone... and it seems having a choice means more value to them even if the options are bad...
It is not but what they call "democracy" in our time is not the radical Athenian or late Theban democracy that Aristotle knew (and hated) but an oligarchy pretending to be a polity.
In conflict management theory there is a techinque called«forced choice» or «limited options» where you make the other side choose among a small number of alternatives decided by you. All the alternatives lead to the same outcome and the choice they are given is illusory. At best, the end destination is predetermined and they get to choose the path to it. Western democracy looks a lot like that. It is a tool for managing conflict between the rulers and the ruled. We get to vote every 4 years, and they get to do whatever they want. Democracy today is mostly performance. There are no real options. There is no option that will actually defend the interests of the common man. If voting mattered, they wouldn’t let us do it.
South African here I think that you could definitely say that we went from British terony to Afrikaaner oligarchy, and we are now in a bantu oligarchy which seems to be boiling into a dictatorship we just don't have the right dictator yet
We should be our own dictator. I take care of me and you take care of you and I will help you if and when I can as I can only hope you would help me as we are all in this together. Fellow born South African here. Just want to be allowed to be.
It’s was sick and perverse , the decline of the west is saddening but inevitable , Europe is circling the plughole and it’s being dramatically speeded up by fighting Russia through that ultra corrupt oligarchy in Ukraine - until westerners wake up in general and realise their governments are all crooks and everything they say is a lie then we are doomed , far too many people trust politicians and if you look at the last 2 decades where is there any progress or success ? They have enriched themselves whilst at the same time introducing nothing but problems for ordinary citizens .
There's only one way to rule a society perfectly, or to mold a perfect society: every single citizen must be perfect, which is why utopia will never happen. The best we can achieve is to improve ourselves as we improve our systems of government, while still remaining fiercely loyal to individual freedoms within the context of a common good. Something like that, anyway.
One of the next best ways is to have a society that raises it's youth to be scholars *and* warriors, for the sake of being able to see and understand the workings of the world they live in, along with being able to make or force change if and when it becomes corrupted by a select few. *This is the exact reason the education system has devolved, making people dumber, and why people are given "bread and circus," distracting them from self improvement and covering their eyes with a false sense of security and peace.
I agree. The greatness of the American experiment was the principles it espoused, namely the sanctity of individual rights and a limited government that only exists to protect those rights. Whether the original form the US government took actually embodied those principles is debatable. The principles are good though. We have an opportunity to develop a system that gets closer to those values. With the cold power of technology to control individuals in subtle and overt ways we desperately need to get this accomplished post haste.
What you are describing is a plutocracy (rule of the rich) which Aristotle described as a corrupt form of Oligarchy (rule of the few). Aristotle believed that there could be good oligarchies, as long as the leaders were chosen for merit. He called an aristocracy (rule of the best). Sadly the term aristocracy now has very different associations.
All of us are much closer to being homeless than becoming rich. Rich oligarchs make their money off of the working people. They have no problem exploiting people for their own gain. It's a story as old as the creation of money.
@@vaska1999 yup four times in fact . Did you watch it and understand? Oligarchies aren't just about gaining money they are mostly about having power and control. They love systems where you have to jump through hoops often because they (and their friends) have a dictatorship over that system and will become rich off of it . The best way to rob the rich from controlling people and systems is to have systems where people can better themselves or a way for the common person to rise up to places of power but can't close off the system to maintain power for themselves.
@@maxstrike3022A consensual agreement that you are forced to do depending on the class and place that you are born in. The idea that something derives from pure free will because we choose that relies on the idea that everyone starts under the same conditions, and this is simply not true. Some people are forced to work worse and more exausting works just by virtue of being born in a specific place, at an specific time.
Our oligarchy has become increasingly corrupt and less meritocratic, promoting people based on loyalty to them rather than merit. You can see that in our universities, where they make standardized tests like the SAT or ACT optional or abolish them all together, but they definitely consider your ability to pay their outrageous tuition that grows so much faster than overall inflation. That helps their wealthy but lazy and sometimes dumb children get in. They use affirmative action to divide the middle and working classes and as a form of window dressing, unconcerned with whether these people graduate or are well placed. You can see it in medicine, where they ban medications that have the dangerous possibility of actually curing people and cutting off hospital medical streams, like Ivermectin. They force people to take injections no one wants to go to school. Their CEOs often have no record of success in business that I know of. Susan Wojcicki? Carly Fiorina? At the very top, they’ve been able to print their own money since 1913.
There was good reason that usury was a capital offence. Your last sentence is what the rest hinges on. Unless you take that power away from them it will only end one way. They will own everything and we will own nothing.
The oligarchy in canada was originally called the family compact. The blood lineage is a powerful means unfortunately laughed at by oligarchs and their flying monkeys...
Watch a documentary on the Trumps history. You will see how the silver spoon came to be. The rich will always rule. I hope you and yours will always be safe. I know my poor ass won’t.
Thank you so much for giving us such a clear idea of what kind of government we have today (en-route to oligarchy) or something like that. Not a reassuring news but at least we know what to expect. Good work.
According to Aristotle, the polity is the name for a community that is governed and led by the rational or prudent members. In Aristotle's politics, the polity is one of the good forms of government; it is the legitimate rule of the majority. In his opinion, the negative counterpart to the polity is a bad democracy. Furthermore, Aristotle believes that the rational members of the community who govern the state should come from the middle class: "For if I have correctly said in my ethics that the happy life is that in which one can practice virtue without hindrance and that virtue is a mean, then a middle life must necessarily be the best, and indeed from such a mean as is possible for everyone to achieve. The same regulations must also apply to the state in relation to its virtue or wickedness and to its government, because government is in a sense the life of the state.” He then justifies this by saying that the middle class has sufficient wealth and therefore neither too little nor too much. It is therefore unlikely that a negative form of rule will arise from it. Polybius, on the other hand, differentiated further in terms of terminology and referred to ochlocracy as the negative variant of popular rule, while the term “democracy” has positive connotations for him. He sees ochlocracy as the decay or “degeneration” of the democratic form of government, a mob rule in which a mass of people selfishly enforces its political decisions as a majority or through violence. In this case, the orientation towards the common good is lost, and instead self-interest and greed determine the actions of citizens. And that is what we will get, at least temporarily. Rassemblement National in France, Alternative for Germany, Freedom Party of Austria, the MAGA movement of the American Republicans or the Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie in the Netherlands. Right-wing extremist movements and trends are blossoming everywhere, supported by a little or not at all educated, agitated mass, and are well on their way to bringing figures to power in a democratically legitimate way who have nothing else in mind than to abolish democracy as quickly as possible. Of course, the intellectual elites of the extreme right are already grinning broadly, ready to take control again after the system has been overthrown by the mob. And even if they are now eagerly claiming that they are the real advocates and true representatives of the common people, they will very quickly install another oligarchy. This time, however, in the pretty guise of neo-fascism and kleptocracy, i.e. movements and parties of the extreme New Right that feel committed to the strongman leader principle and an ethnically or racially based elitism and cultivate an exaggerated nationalism, militant anti-socialism and a latent willingness to use violence, but at the same time, as a rule of thieves, have everything else in mind than the well-being of the general public. Forms of government that were not yet known in ancient Greece. I wish all supporters of these parties and movements of madness and mental illness a lot of fun and enjoyment and am glad and happy that I only have to experience this shit in the very last part of my otherwise very enjoyable life.
Years ago, I worked for a family firm that owned shopping malls in one of the Atlantic provinces. The brothers routinely flew from Montreal to New Brnswick to "have lunch" with the premier of the province, obviously to give him his marching orders. We have another infamos family, the Desmarais clan, Franco-Ontarians with properties and businesses in Quebec who have totally infiltrated politics and control the premiers and countless other elected officials who work for them at their companies when they are not in political office. There is a great photo on a book cover of the Desmarais men yelling and pointing in the face of premier Charest of Quebec over lunch. Aristotle would be right on target here.
i like when the bankers are pointing fingers at the chest of the king of england who was best friends with jimmy saville, best photo that shows how the world actually works
I always loved the argument called "Iron law of oligarchy." No matter what system you get, it will eventually end up in the hands of a few rich oligarchs.
If a society drop the idea to a hierarchy of power, so government, and everyone can freely defend himself, than thanks to competitions no one can hold infinite power and no one can enforce his position to the rest.
Concerning the Aristotelian Polity (Πολιτεία). This is the Res Public, i.e. Republic. I wrote a comment yesterday which I copy here for the understanding: A Republic (res public, assembly or thing of the people) is a participation system enclosing most if not all stakeholders. It is different from the Democracy, since its rules are subject to a consensus rather than imposing the rule of the many upon the few, i.e. the republic respects minority stakeholders. The problem with Athens and later with Rome is that the rich stakeholders, abused the system, with first of all Pericles and later the Roman Families, with target to create empires instead of good regulated states. The two party system is an echo of this system, where one party represents the population and the other party represents the industries. Unfortunately both parties got infiltrated by extreme capitalists and here we are today, praying to survive the next day. Take care yourself and the ones you love.
@@christopherneufelt8971 yes. It’s impossible to have an empire abroad and a Republic at home. The profit and power from building an empire (oligarchy) eventually returns back to the republic and is able to use their money and power to buy the influence to build THEIR (the oligarch’s) consensus. Which is where we are today with the US global empire. At the end of the day… only weak men are able to be bought off.
@@vaska1999 The consensus in Republic works somehow different. The demanded legislation from one group of stakeholders, needs to respect the rights and duties of all the opposing stakeholders; in a democracy, the demanded legislation does not need to respect the rights and duties of all the opposing stakeholders; this is why the American Founding Fathers (which actually I have a great respect) were opposing democracy and even warn in their papers against it. Incidently, the term DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC, affiliated with overwhelmly communistic regional entities, describes precisely the democratic methodology, but of course in these entities there are no parties, only stakeholders of the same party. Considering the current status of The West, we see that we have a democratic method of legislation with no opposition as method by the current stakeholders: luck of opposition to this method is for me a proof of collaboration between parties rather than proof or a republic. In addition, all the current stakeholders are affiliated with banking, which by Aristotle was considered a grey area due to the accumulation of capital and control of economy by means of no work. Take care yourself and the ones you love.
Greed can be, and has been weaponised. If the oligarch class can persuade everyone to "beggar their neighbour" for personal gain, they get everyone else to collect together the "wealth". Thus like multiple sponges, wealth gets concentrated only for the oligarchs and ultimately the ultimate tyranny to squeeze those sponges into a single pot. We (the whole world) are in the final stage where all is being orchestrated into the hands of an unseen very few.
Ancient wisdom still applies because human nature doesn't change. The politics of power are part of human nature. As are dozens of other traits, including compassion and fairness. We just don't pursue compassion and fairness as energetically as we pursue power.
This is why a society that aligns toward virtue as an effort to maximize the production of wisdom matters. The vice driven deviants know this, and it is why we have had so many centuries of despotism kept in place.
Sounds pure, but idk I see a problem. Tells you're kinda deep in terms of morals, projecting evil around and framing society a powerless victim. I'm not giving up the hope for human flourishing, just don't believe emotional virtue pander jerk gonna help. We all have different roles I guess, not trying to destroy ideals, just offering a take
@@whataboutthis10 With respect, you're misunderstanding my position, and I am also willing to bet you don't fully understand why applying the varieties of virtue matters when noting your response. Fully stamping out vice is impossible, but when a society fundamentally aligns toward virtue as various pockets through time and space have shown, those societies have flourished, and were only brought down by more powerful vice driven A'holes. We are now existing on a global scale that requires a reunderstanding of why aligning toward virtue both individually and collectively matters as an effort to maximize wisdom on an international level, or we can expect this so-called civilization to turn into a full-blown international plantation, which it is on the verge of becoming, or massive collapse.
I highly recommend the economist/historian Michael Hudson for his books and online lectures. He describes how the unchecked rise of oligarchies and uncontrolled debt peonage of the poor was a central factor in the decline of major empires.
The rich and powerful of today actually read this book some time ago. They, and their methods of control, have evolved beyond it. Although there are still reflections and archetypes that associate with Aristotle's description. The trick is for all of us to evolve and see and act in light of these changes. Good video, thanks for posting!
Absolutely spot on. The ancient Greeks were so genius or may I say superior minds for that era compared to any other civilisation at the time. Aristotle was brilliant. Thank you so much for the excellent video and content.Everything you mentioned and explained is exactly related to our societies and leaders right now. It's so spot on I can't believe it. Bravo Sir. Bless you.
All "government" styles tend to go back to feudal, that is, the ones in power hold onto power, fighting for more. You end up with "The ruling class" and the peasants. So yes, all the governments are going to oligarchy or a religious version of it.
Thank you! This was such a great video! I think we basically live in oligarchies in the West. I think also most of the people are fed up with this. Populism is on the rise and I get this feeling a new Caesar is just around the corner.
We don't have the quality population from which to form a new Caesar in the classic sense. This is by design. America has become a demographic landfill so, forget about finding a classic strongman to arise and save us. Visit a large landfill sometime and consider the metaphor. You'll see what I mean.
i have summoned all my own experiences and current geopolitics to conclude most of what is in this priceless video!!! if i had studied aristotle a long time ago i might be wiser earlier ! this is fantastic and the way it has been presented is likely easier to assimilate than in his writings and for that and the matrix presentation the video maker deserves enormous gratitude and compliment !!!🙏🏽✌🏽☝🏽👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
His students and friends were aristocratic. He was one of Alexander's tutors. Whose father was a wealthy, powerful king. Also Ptolemy, Seleucas, Harpalus, Creitus, etc
There is a very old saying: "He who has the gold, makes the rules". The truth is, whether you want to believe it or not, is that the uber rich has ALWAYS ruled, or at the very least held much influence over their country's government or whoever sat on the throne. The difference was this: In years past, these very rich people viewed themselves as sons and daughters of their homelands. Because their wealth was tied to their land holdings: vast farms, factories, mines, etc, they had a common interest in that respect with the middle class and even the poor. Not so anymore thanks to globalization. When a billionaire living in California has their wealth tied to their business interest in China, the middle-east, Mexico, or name your foreign country, it is a very different matter. That bond is gone, or at the least it is vastly eroded. Never before until relatively recently has this been the case. As for the tens of millions of "migrants" pouring into the US and Europe over the last twenty years or so, it is because the .000000001% wants it that way. By driving down our standard of living, they are boosting theirs. And make no mistake, they aren't paying for all of this, we are. This is why you will not find a nationalist billionaire. They are all globalist, and they want you to be a "global citizen" too.
Great video, you perfectly explained the situation in Australia right now, I can’t recognise my own country anymore,,in five years it will be a dystopian nightmare for anyone speaking out against the all ruling authoritarian regime- we are no longer a free democratic nation
oligarchy is a general-purpose word. rule by army leaders, priests, politicians and castes are all oligarchies. it just means, 'rule by a few.' aristotle had a particular word fot rule by the rich, 'plutocracy..' precisely, 'rule by the rich.' it's an informal rule, politicians manage the state, publicly, but listen when their rich patron tells them what to do. all oligarchies are dependent on the submission of the people. this submission is gained by a mix of threat and lies. 'we' forgot nothing. 'we' were never told that democracy works, 'we' were told democracy didn't work. then 'we' were told 'democracy does work,' but only when we let politicians do democracy for 'us.' democracy does work, although examples are few. but ingnorant people are easily lied to, and lazy people are easily controlled, result: oligarchy is the normal state of mankind. this normal state is leading us off a cliff, into evolutionary failure. imagine letting shoddy creatures like harris and trump anywhere near the management of a nation. clearly usa society is profoundly corrupt.
Who is your mayor, city councilman, school board head, governor, senators, congressman, RepublCorporate wants it all and then some. Dumocrates settle for 75%.
Aristotle exemplify that more things change... the more they stay the same. There are patterns that humans will fall into even if we know collectively that we ahould know better. This is why history and critical thinking are so important.
"Imagine a hypothetical government."
Proceeds to describe the modern American governmental system.
Not just America and many other places are worse America's only playing catch up to them
Maybe it was used as a how to.
Not just America. So many parallels elsewhere too 😢
"crying in a corner wishing you would've had a say" 😒@@rolfnoduk
A polity is described as a middle ground between an aristocracy and a democracy. Somehow we have managed to find the bastard child of democracy and oligarchy without any of the virtues of a polity.
What they say, "It's a threat to our democracy."
What they mean, "It's a threat to our oligarchy."
Bingo.
The trick is in the word "our"
You and I are NOT apart of THEIR "our". So what they speak is true. But its for us plebs to figure that part out, its not OUR democracy, its THEIRS and they spit that in our faces daily.
More specifically, the unelected administrative state serves the interests of the oligarchs while the citizens are generally asked to pick between one side that sells the general public on the idea of progress and the other side that sells the people on the idea of restoring normalcy.
The United States ia, and always has been, an oligarchy. However a few things have changed since Aristotle. First, the American poor are not getting tougher. They're getting fatter and dumber. They're also more gullible. The notion that an obvious grifter like Trump can deliver them from oligarchy would be hilarious if it weren't so sad. Second, in Aristotle's time there could be no such thing as a birth dearth. A new twist is that it's mainly the rich with many children. Third, American oligarch's are not letting their children degenerate. They usually have a tougher, more rigorous upbringing than the children of poor people. Finally, letting little people play with guns is a brilliants strategy. It allows powerless men to delude themselves they have power, to fantasize about "taking our country back" all of which stops them from really organising. The little people mainly shoot themselves or each other.
Lyndon Johnson put it best how easy it is to manipulate lower middle-class and poor white men:
"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you"
As long as we are taught to use dualism (Right or Left) to understand power, we will always be Divided and Conquered. The oligarchy's wet dream is to rule the masses with one world government. It's not unity, it is imprisonment. There is no integrity or trust in their idea of a perfect world.
Wealth is like salt water. The more you drink, the thirstier you become.
Excellent illustration...
Handsomely stated.
What is even worse is when the parasite class have so much money that they do not know what to do with it they turn to hunger for power and ABSLOLUTE detail control over all peoples lives...
The problem isn't necessarily wealth but its distribution. Anarchists had the right of it; inheritance is perhaps the greatest unequaliser of all.
He who loves silver is never satisfied with silver.
It's never enough for them to just enjoy their wealth. They always seek to dominate others too.
Wealth = power.
From where I stand, these extremely wealthy men don’t see the rest of us, and play games of one upmanship among themselves. ‘I make more millions than you’, and so on…
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”
That is the true nature of evil… Satan and his minions delight in DESTRUCTION and CHAOS !
The rich don't get happiness from owning wealth, they get happiness from aquiring it. Like how it feels good to buy a new car. They get addicted to that feeling, and want to aquire more and more to keep the dompaine rush flowing.
Amazing how Aristotle nailed our modern world so accurately!
Not just him, but also Plato and Socrates were wary of Democracy and try to warn us but we humans fail to heed their warnings.
Not modern world, simply human nature. Or show me a human, _humane_ society...We are just one step Baboons, who kill each other, while we hire others...
@@madworldisrael7584 Not quite. The founding fathers clearly made efforts to create checks and balances to prevent this from happening. But they're just men like the rest of us--they're not perfect. Admirable attempt.
@@svendays the system was quite good, but when all is said and done it got infected with too much democracy. It was all too easy after that to manipulate the masses with promises of freebies and seize control. Once the electoral college falls, the supreme court will fall and that will be the end of the great experiment.
That is why Aristotle is one of the most studied philosophers. Aristotle helped form the basis for Western thought that includes logical thinking, the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, and the workings of politics and power.
My only quibble is with the "maybe these ideas are relevant today." They're overwhelmingly relevant. Great and insightful exposition. Thank you.
As long as our species exist, "these ideas", politics, will be relevant.
If only we had been taught such stuff in school, now we have the opportunity to bring the old gems back into awareness.
"No one is going to give you the education you need to overthrow them"
Had you tried studying this in school they'd have done to you what they did to Socrates.
School isn’t made to educate.
I went through this during my education of the public school system. In the fourth grade I was starting to learn about the western days. fifth grade Greek mythology which now introduces all of the men and a lot of Gods. Remember people here were into bestialities', Minotaur, sheeple, and Horseman. Then came the English rule of knights and witches. To bring us here in rainbow village. Where we start it all again for the littles ones to start living like beasts.
Schools are a part of the grift.
The “Signs You Might Be Living in an Oligarchy “ section of this video is brilliant. More and more people need to understand what is pointed to here.
Came here to say this, but you said it better ;o)
What time, please?
@@wildmanofborneo10:50 for example (Boeing, etc)
Prime example is the u.s itself. Democracy juz an illusion
Yeah well, first we need them to realize that a lying, irredeemable, draft dodging, narcissistic, sociopath adulterer is not qualified to become president. The explanation in the video is spot on, but it would be advance level rocket science for the maga morons.
I’m from Pakistan and it describes my country pretty well. It’s a Punjabi feudal military corporate oligarchy.
I'm from Canada, brother. it's just as corrupt here. They are good at keeping us blind and separated by race, religion, and perceived "class"
Currently in America, neither citizens nor politicians drive policy.
Being an old dude in his sixties, I've seen our once representational republic slowly become our present day Oligarchy.
This is great video. It explains so much so clearly and concisely. Thank you!
True, and ignorance is the oligarcs greatest ally. If there was less of it, people might have seen that Bernie Sanders was their way out of that mess.
It's funny how you claim to have seen it change. When the Oligarchy was in place at the turn of the last century and got their way with the creation of the Fed. Read prof. Carroll Quigley, he was bill clinton's mentor.
@@geronimo4511 yes until the oligarchs convinced Sanders to bow down and obey. God bless the fearless!!!! I myself am working on that.
@@geronimo4511 it certainly explains the dumbing down of the USA. The education system keeps getting worse, the culture keeps lurching into ever greater stupidity.
I find it interesting how many modern politicians praise democracy with their speeches but with their actions they clearly endorse oligarchy. Maybe they view democracy as an unthreatening alternative which can be easily controlled? I've never heard any politician discuss the benefits of monarchy or aristocracy.
When people point at Scandinavia as good societies, they never talk about the fact we have not only democracy but also monarcy.
@savvageorge
As with any narcissist, actions speak louder than words. Their words are tools that hide their actions.
They choose democracy because it is an intrinsically inclusive system, a citizen of a democracy has political franchise and is therefore not a subject of a government and when the people are (or at least believe they are) the political authority they don't revolt.
All politicians all lie all the time.
@@ellengran6814Kings and Queens are just tourist attraction in Europe. They don't make laws and policies.
One hopeful development I've seen on a local level - our city announced a road expansion, with the destruction of numerous houses and local, small businesses in the newspaper as a fiat. One council member was quoted as saying, "If they won't sell their houses, we'll just take them by eminent domain." Cue local, effective rebellion. Meetings, petitions, protests at the next City Planning meeting, recall petitions and within 2 weeks of the announcement, the plan was cancelled. Groups that formed to oppose this action continue to monitor the situation and update the public to ensure that this isn't reintroduced once the publicity dies down. If we can extend effective action like this to larger cities, states and nationwide, we can protect the interests of the people over the greed of the few.
Aristotle didn’t describe an ancient system.
He described human nature as it is.
Allowing an educational system to drop out classical writings erases hard learned lessons from the consciousness of the culture.
Each new generation states at ZERO if not instructed.
Interesting that no one has ever found any biological evidence for this "human nature as it is" that you claim, yet here I am being enlightened in the YT comments about it. It would be great if the evidence to support this claim were also provided.
Totally agree.
Please provide biological evidence for this "human nature as it is".
He didn't because he believed in idealist variants that do not exist (or, in the best case, cannot last). Only the "degenerate" variants should be considered as realistic (hence democracy is the way to go).
This channel is a product of AI. zerogpt identifies it as 97% AI.
Some things never change.
Human nature is one of them.
The good news is Americans have wepon's an gwot training so a chance at freeing ourselves if only people would accept the nature of our government.
Now its camouflaged as companies that influence lawmakers in Brussels and Washington
@@Trump2024asw what??? Historians will look back at GWOT as a spectacular display of imperial hubris (which is a great book btw). I’m see your name… Trump completely changed the culture inside of the Republican Party and made it ok to for conservatives to admit that GWOT was a mistake and completely spoke out against using our military for regime change and nation building.
This channel is a product of AI. zerogpt identifies it as 97% AI.
All this happens while the public sit back call their government incompetent.
All unaware, these politicians ain't being incompetent. They're doing exactly what they meant to.
Not exactly. Your description applies to some. But many of them do what they CAN do. If they will oppose rich, media will destroy them and they won't be in office anymore. So they try to find some balance... anyway the fact that the state is weak against oligarchs and if the state can't control them, no one can and they rule our world.
Aristocrats or Oligarchs, May the best among us succeed.. No Rome shall burn down again, even if the Tyrants hold sway.. Somehow no Rome shall burn down like it once did centuries ago. The cage is too fortified thanks to modern education and the lack of land owners producing their own food.
To me this is the most confusing thing. Literally every choice they make enriches themselves. They never stop to ask the common man. With the technology today, we could literally have a policy voting app. The only job of these bureaucrats would be enact the voted policies.
And yet we still go in with pen and paper and told our votes are counted towards our chosen candidate. They do whatever they want, and people still think they have a say. The only time we get what we want is when it aligns with their desires or to placate us.
Parallels to my society you ask? Buddy, you just described our society on earth in 2024, a big corporate oligarchy, and that must stop.
This channel is a product of AI. zerogpt identifies it as 97% AI.
A 14-minute review of a big book is not a full description and does not warrant a sweeping conclusion and undescribed plan of action. This is age of corporate wealth evolved from the Industrial Revolution. The "big corporate oligarchy" is not a monolith. It is made up of individuals who have differing opinions and actions. For example, Musk is obviously supporting Trump, a business man who knows how to build a system and produce product followed by increase in revenue. Anther is Zuckerberg who bowed to perceived authority and then reversed and announced his participation, perhaps out of moral dissonance. Who knows about Amazon's leader who seems more interested in building muscle and dating women who go out in public half naked. Other examples abound. The point is that Aristotle is describing a system of building to possible corruption based on observations, much like an anthropologist today. In Ancient Athens Greece, the checkpoints and balance systems did not, or rarely, existed. We do have system of checks and balances the Founding Fathers build into the Constitution based on centuries of examples and their reasoned study of governmental systems. Systems are not perfect and will go out of balance, but a check system can bring things back into steady pattern. Human nature influencing a system results in it going off center and then the same human nature can reverse and equalize a system; physics of movement can explain this process, too. We must observe, too, that this video is written not as the last word on Aristotle, but as a shaded editorial piece using Aristotle to make social commentary on today's situation, which is the situation of societies throughout history. What they did not have is the Constitution. I would suggest a deep read of Aristotle and Plato as well as a deep read into history before jumping to an observation and proposing an action. Action proposals without clear plans tested by feasibility studies is just as bad as an oligarchy rising to power. Micro oligarchies are popping up all of the time; sometimes bubbles collect to form a super bubble, but these burst because they exceed their capacity to expand. Thought is like this, too; a reaction is not helpful. Education on a subject can create a broader view and insight than relying on a shaded opinion of a video, regardless of its source.
@@katherineozbirn6622you mention checks and balances in the system of the USA. And I agree those checks and balances should brings things to equilibrium. But I would also counter with at this point in our history those checks have begin to become corrupted. Yes bubbles come and go. But each cycle makes bigger and bigger swings back and forth. We the humble regular people, the poor and middle class, worry more about getting caught in the crossfire before it finds the middle again. The bigger the bubble the more collateral damage it causes.
@@katherineozbirn6622 USA rules the world and they're not fair. Someone is in La la la land. Trump and Musk are just part of the ecosystem. The inability to see World Bank, IMF with a clear view is baffling.
Aristote studied the Greeks who actually ruled the world. USA are the Democracy police for a reason.
Is it a coincidence that most of the rich people are in the USA? I hope people see the state of virtue among the American go getters who would step on their neighbour for a few dollars and fame.
@@katherineozbirn6622USA are ruling the world. When you think about power.... Think about the world in relation to USA.
Aristotle looked at Greece because they ruled the world. I know Americans think their way is THE WAY until it isn't.
You just described the USA today.
This is bigger than just the USA.
This is Planet wide.
Our governments are under the control and sway of the trillionaires.
The "great reset" continues with the development of the brics alliance.
The worlds economy, all of it in every form, is about to be reset into a new model where 99% of human kind will own nothing and never be allowed to.
People are mostly sheep and will always follow the herdsmen into the abatoir.
He described most first world countries. Most hide their actions around virtue but it's just an excuse to gain control and shift their own people into power
The Western World
The world at large...
The oligarchs of the 1800's gave us Teddy Roosevelt. We survived. The middle 2oth century, Reagan arrived -- who ruled better after his time in the wilderness after his failed 1st attempt for the presidential nomination. This century, we have Trump -- who, like Reagan before, has spent his time in the wilderness. Let us pray he helps shove the pendulum.
We are fortunate we have term limits for president. Now for congressional term limits -- which we would already have had except Newt Gingrich never wanted term limits when he ran on his contract with America.
This 69 year old American thanks you so much for this refresher course. The state of the US government has been deplorable for decades. Thanks to the internet, independent news and social media, we are seeing the democratic facade crumble in the most blatant manner. I hope that I live long enough to witness the change that is at least on the horizon.
Thank you again. Yes, I did subscribe.
This description of an oligarchy fits Sweden perfectly.
What always surprises me is how few people see it, or are willing to look honestly at it.
People don’t care and they don’t want to be called racist
But I for one cannot wait for the iPhone 16 that is mind by children’s bare hands for cobalt and assembled together by slaves in China
Oligarchy describes the USA.
@@tcpUtube1 I agree. There are several countries that fit the bill
It seems understanding our political system is like a fish trying to understand water.
@@superninjaraidingmanor maybe just maybe your political system isn’t doing well
The reason why ancient era Greek philosophers' words are timeless is because they studied human nature, by observation, intellectually-honest consideration and after much debate with open mindedness. Times change, human nature doesn't. However worse you think mankind is today (and I'd agree it is), it would be the same back then if these systems matured earlier.
Once you get some grip of how humans behave and organize, and on top of that you start seeing all the historical eras and historical figures as true and natural human beings (instead of caricatures or "movie characters", as the modern media makes us see them today), everything starts making much more sense.
Yes I agree but these days we have smartphones and proof of war crimes so I believe nothing has changed ile never watch main stream media again =
You might be interested to read 'Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About The World - And Why Things Are Better Than You Think' by Hans Rosling et. al.
Firstly, humans like any species change until they are no longer themselves, so obviously "human nature" changes.
Secondly, human behaviour is primarily determined by social systems and these depend on things like available resources and technologies. None of Politics explains the first 90% of human existence which is almost entirely egalitarian hunter-gatherer bands.
Things changed when natural climate change and population growth created a pressure away from foraging to the less nutritious but more space-efficient agriculture whose invention was obviously a necessary precondition.
Industry massively increased our productivity and the internet is massively increasing our capacity for deliberation on larger scales.
@@AcidCommunistAachen >humans like any species change
There is no evidence for change.
>human behaviour is primarily determined by social systems
You rationalize your evasion of your immedately experienced power to focus or evade focusing. Nothing but you can cause your mind to focus or evade. Focus is the power that allows your mind to function. Unfocused reasoning is impossible.
Aristotle seems to have made the glaring mistake of believing a monarchy is by definition just and superior of mind.
any serious historian knows that all monarchies are in origin a glorified mafia, they ruled by the sword and inheritance, not by virtue of character.
I didn’t learn the word “oligarchy” until after college
I WONDER WHY
Facts and information only belong to certain people.
Maybe you weren’t paying attention? Oligarchy was taught to us in the 7th grade. I also learned about it in depth in college.
@@ryanmarlin2974 yeah but maybe he got a real degree.
Bad parenting?
@@mimilong3817 This information, however, is freely available and was written 2000 years ago
9:20 Consider a "hypothetical" society where the government consistently bails out large corporations which hits the general population with inflation, higher tax...
You funny Legendary Lore🤣
Studying Economics in the 70s, a fundamental we learnt, monopolies were bad and oligopolies were little better. Oligopoly is the business version of an Oligarchy. I have, over the years, watched how this fundamental was overruled. I wonder if its still taught today
"Economics" is now mere "relativism".
Its not taught today as far as I know, but to be honest its not the point. I sort of worked it out for myself when I understood that oligopolies are the most likely to be destroyed by rapid technological and cultural change. The best recent example of this is the oligopoly formed by german car manufacturers, the related oligarchy formed by the powers behind the scenes in the form of the quandt family (BMW) and the porsche/piech family that owns VW/audi/Seat/Skoda/RollsRoyce.. and take note of their reaction to the introduction of electric cars... and their sponsorship of anti - tesla protests. So the destruction of the oligopoly formed by german car manufacturers will lead to the weakening of the oligarchy that rules germany.
Some resources are extremely rare so you do sometimes get natural monopolies or oligopolies occurring in business. It's the unfair creation of monopolies and oligopolies that harm society when they actively harm their competitors.
@@savvageorge I dont agree with your comment about oligopolies forming naturally. Again lets take the german car market as an example. In 2021 the EU fined Mercedes, BMW and VW group for colluding to limit the rollout of pollution reduction technology. This was to the benefit of 2 of the top 10 oligarchs in Germany who are majority or controlling shareholders in 2 of the named companies.
@@daveingram8036 I agree car manufacturing should be a fairly open market. I was thinking more about rare natural resources as a potential source for natural oligarchies. Lets say your country has 5 locations with gold deposits underground. You're never gonna have more than 5 gold miners in your country due to the limited locations for gold extraction.
Just what needed to hear...crying for my country kenya...absolutely true ❤❤❤❤
Aristotle's idea of democracy was majority rule without safeguards for the political minority. That is why Thomas Jefferson, in reaction to the excesses of the French Revolution, told James Madison that the constitution needed to be amended with a Bill of Rights.
Now it’s tyranny of the minority - not just oligarchy but also woke.
The Bill of Rights was added on because colonies noticed that it was missing and would not sign on to it until those individual protections were addressed.
The arguments for the Bill of Rights are far older and were ultimately required by the states.
Remember the Federalist Papers were originally intended for and widely read in NY state, as was written by Jay and Hamilton both of whom were always in favor of centralized power. Go read the "Anti-Federalist Papers", Letters from a Federal Farmer and Brutus are good places to start when it comes to the arguments there in, Cato and Sentinel as well.
Didn't America start with "Articles of Confederation" in the 1783 era... then was found not to have enough centralized authority... which then lead to the "Constitution" meetings. Isn't that the way it evolved?
@@BwanaFinklestein Yes, the Articles of Confederation preceded the U.S. Constitution.
This is actually really the most pleasant of surprises: I started watching almost through gritted teeth in anticipation of seeing Aristotle's great thought and forensic social, economic, and political analysis dumbed down to a level which misrepresented it. Instead, not only has what I have seen been faithful to what I read in the book but this video is actually VERY HARD-HITTING in a quiet, understated way. This is TH-cam (doubtlessly unintentionally) at its best. Enjoy until it 'disappears'. In any case, GREAT WORK! You just gained another subscriber.
I'm of similar mind.... the raw math is 50% of us are above and 50% below average 'IQ', this presentation is accessable to a broard group... I can tell.
Aristotle seems to have made the glaring mistake of believing a monarchy is by definition just and superior of mind.
any serious historian knows that all monarchies are in origin a glorified mafia, they ruled by the sword and inheritance, not by virtue of character.
I love the concept that you present by stating, "imagine a scenario where...", knowing that what you are saying is currently going on in society as you drop this video. Very eye opening, a great look back into one of the greatest minds of human history with an engaging storytelling. Keep up the good work!
Aristole was a clever lad.
He was a clever dude.
😅
Aristole was a virtuous lad.
Except when it comes to Physics
@@TREE3-ph4srconsider the time he was writing in
Studying true history is seeing the future.
Nothing new under the sun.
That moment when you realize how succinctly your government was described. The US has officially become an oligarchy
US is an oligarchy. This is an exact description of US and UK.
The globe
All western nations. We have the same problem tribe.
@@reyray7184 Other nations aren't pricing their poor out of higher education, at least.
@@Emidretrauqe I'm not sure what your point is. Is college free over there or something? Or do they just not have student loans?
We need to take power of money creation (large private banks including federal reserve) and the telecommunication (Ericsson) for this to end
Whether we have been moving into an oligarchy or something else, we are moving into something very nasty. And have been for a long time now.
Technofeudalism is what we are moving into. It's still an oligarchy but slightly different than previous established oligarchy. You can even see conflict within technofeudalism between the older oligarchs and the newer ones like the PayPal Mafia.
Yes. EXACT:LY.
We're steps away from oligarchy. Those behind it want to move into full tyranny though.
That pesky idea of a New World Order keeps coming back. Hopefully they let us have more than 500M people before they are done.
Especially if you look at what is happening in England. It’s like their PM took 1984 and decided it was a playbook.
Excellent presentation!
One googly they never bowled Aristotle was the idea that the greatest wealth and power might be accumulated by young people handling technology their parents could not understand. Where does that leave influence and mobility?
2500 years ago, guys with sticks and stones calculate the diameter of the Earth, and perfectly predict political systems. The human mind is pretty awesome
ERATOSTHENES!
Sticks and metal lol I agree though
The Ancient Greeks were hardly "guys with sticks and stones".
Ancient Greeks were found to have early versions of computers sunk with their ships before they collapsed. To call that civilization people with sticks and stones is hilarious. They weren't hunter gatherers 😂 my god education has really failed us
did you see their sticks or stones? :))
Things have not changed from day 1. I can see a lot of this in Canada right now. Amazing how we are blind to it all.
*been* blinded to it all. Look at the history of education, and you see how school became a preparation ground to make the next generation a bit blinder each passing generation.
The cattle never realize they are being raised for the slaughter
At least you have health care
Aristotle was wrong. Wrong about Oligarchy being unstable. Today we don't have local Oligarchy but it is world wide. Global Oligarchy and its power increase exponentially every day because they have control of global finance, the most powerful military ever, the most sophisticated intelligence system.
Biden was absolutely right about F-22 comment. In Aristotle's time it was as easy as asking for help from neighbouring power; today the average man is disenfranchised, unorganised and technically weaker than a local Policemen. Nobody will leave their comfort of scrolling media and welfare food and shelter for a revolution. Revolution is dead.
You make a lot of sense. But don't forget the black swan of nature. Sometimes the unforeseeable or unexpected happens.
When I read the book Politics in the 80s, I thought, this was going on in Aristotle's time, as the Lord said, there is nothing new under the sun.
I’ve been diagnosed as very low on the oligarchy spectrum.
Join the club. 😁
Same…. But extremely high on the libertarian spectrum ; )
Same. There's always fascism...
Plato's Republic and Aristotle's Politics are publicly available in the United States. It is your job as a parent to educate your children while the public & private school system is merely a tool to achieve the goal. It is your responsibility as a parent to fill in where that tool fails. Take initiative, take responsibility, teach your children these things, dont rely on the system to completely educate your children, your state clearly has limits.
There's a ton of whining in this comment section. The responsibility falls on a parent not the state.
You are right, we, the parents, are the ones responsible for our kids general education.
and when parents can't/won't?.. many would refute your claim it's their 'job'.. many simply wouldn't be capable of doing it.. others too occupied/tired from earning a living.. and so on.. your argument is easy to flip over
@@slokim9102parents can't teach what they have not learned.
@@Katie-yu1cv gotta start somewhere and excuses aren't really a beginning are they?
It used to be taught in school along with critical thinking. Now they don't. They want braindead, blind obedience.
I read Aristotle's Politics in 1978 when I first went to college. It turned out it was all I really needed to know.
Tired of people saying "What rich people do doesn't affect you" "Rich people aren't the reason you're poor"
Yes, they quite literally are the reason, and they are purposefully affecting EVERYTHING to be worse for the rest of us.
A lot of stuff just side effects and unintended consequences wild visions are focused elsewhere
@@SAR0311 I think they're very specifically focused on keeping people down, the way education has become unaffordable unless you already come from a wealthy family is straight from the playbook laid out here.
They call the rest of us "useless eaters" they want to separate from us while living off of our labor just like it's always played out in history.
This video is an outline of Project 2025.
Well now….
Wealth doesn't necessarily mean the desire to control. Look at 20th century history lots of people who came from working class backgrounds gain power that didn't benefit anyone but, their partners. They usually used that "down with the rich" cliche you are talking
As a person born around 1980, it saddens me that society had already peaked in my childhood. The era where society worked for the greater good was the Cold War world order, due in no small part to the elite's fear of revolution that there was an alternative system on the other side. This forced the elites to make concessions which raised the standards and living conditions of the workers. The end of the Cold War also meant the end of this golden era for the working class. Society has been on a downward trend of increasing inequality, increasing social conflict, and increasing conflict between nations ever since. Oligarchy is a very good description where we are at. Interestingly, Aristotle rejected democracy as merely tyranny of the masses, and on this matter, he was right. I can see society evolve towards either tyranny or mob democracy. I don't see a return towards a society of goodwill and high trust in my life time, at least not in Western countries. In fact, the countries where common good prevails today are those who were recently poor and whose people still have good qualities. I think societies like South Korea, China, Singapore, Vietnam might fit this category.
Yes few people realize that the Socialist movement in the 1930's was responsible for the Golden Age of Capitalism, where the middle class achieved 67% of the wealth. After the great depression hit, FDR took huge strides to tax the wealthy appropriately and facilitate unionization of workers. The Fall of Soviet Union meant as you said, that Western governments and the Elite could now stop worrying about Socialism.
The Globalists have gone beyond the classical descriptions of government, by inserting their rule on once sovereign nations. The people are still living under the old form, but that is just an illusion at this point. America will soon be bankrupt, the dollar, which is always being inflated in value, will eventually tank, and what will emerge then ? Enslavement of humanity is in the works. And the elite wants to control everything on the planet. With the current technology available they can track and surveil everything that's going on. Incredible ? of course, but it's here and we're living in it for now, but with all the crises being created, and the end game involves reducing humanity to 500 million, we have Democide, i.e., that killing of the people that the State governs. This cannot turn out well.
Yes, it is a perversion and Aristotle points out both sides of the coin. The current situation is certainly unstable, which is good in one sense, because the current Oligarchs cannot maintain their control, but bad for everyone in society that is trying to live a reasonable life. WWIII is likely on the horizon, a very visible horizon, because the Globalist Cabal wants complete control even as it is slipping away from them. And the People are just chattel that they control. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The call for Freedom has never been more in earnest, and seemingly farther away.
1980 was not the peak you believe it was!
@@dormilon36It all depends on where you are. In Europe and Japan 80's were clearly the peak society, but in the USA the peak was decade or two earlier.
Dude that was not the peak. I was born in 1982 and I will tell you right now from every boomer I have talked to the peak of the USA was the 1950s and 1960s. People were buying houses with a single income. A single income provided for a large family of 5+ children. Americans could vacation in Europe dirt cheap (WW2 aftermath) the criminals were dealt with swiftly and the insane were put in asylums rather than roaming the streets as homeless. There was massive optimism and most Americans saw improvement in their lives. There were downsides such as institutional racism especially in the South, and from the non White boomers I talked to they definitely didn't enjoy the 1950s and 60s nearly as much as the Whites for that specific reason. Being denied an apartment, a job, or worse in that era for being a specific race or even religion. But the USA in general was way better off during the 50s and 60s, its important to note that Whites were the vast majority of the US population during that era, like 90% or so of the US population. So while minorities in the South didn't have it so great, Whites did and minorities in the North also had it pretty good. Honestly I have not met a single boomer that thought their era was worse than the 70s, 80s, 90s, etc.
One of the most insightful and damning commentaries on the state of governments across the world. Very well put together. The USA Ausralia the UK Europe all have different foms of Oligarchy. Russia China different forms of tyrany
Aristotle looked forward thousands of years into the future to perfectly describe the USA.
The world bro, its everywhere
Pattern recognition is extremely useful to understand the world. Makes you look almost psychic.
Nah he based it on the Greek city states of his time.
@@Inspireworkshop Yes and this scenario repeats itself in all societies in all history.
@@Inspireworkshop Yes. But that illustrates that political structures have not really advanced
One of the most useful videos I've seen for a long time... Brilliantly written.
Equally as brilliant is that it was designed to APPEAR to have been scripted by AI.
It is breath taking to learn that wisdom has been around so long it’s just a shame we have stopped thinking! At least not all of us. I hope everyone watching listened closely. Take care
Spot on. Where did the "For the people and by the people" go?
It's never existed.
It did exist. The reason Ben Frank said we have it if we can keep it is because it takes constant participation from all citizens to maintain it. But we havent been maintainting and so they slowly took control while most of us were asleep at the wheel. Id say its not too late to take it back but they have us surrounded with their technology. Wheather we revolt or we subit, its not going to be pretty.
@@christmasanimals7119 I have to agree with the first replier: it never existed. My reasoning is at the beginning only land-owning white males were allowed to vote and hold office. Also, the Senate was not an elected body but appointed by state legislatures. The US government in effect started off as a partially elected, partially appointed Aristocracy. You need to ask yourself why so many of the founding fathers and first presidents were very wealthy Southern slave-holding plantation owners or very rich merchants from New England. More participation in deciding government was allowed but it was counter-balanced with the simultaneous rise of ultra wealthy industrial robber-barrons who individually, let alone collectively, could override the power of the Federal government. Our once partially elected partially appointed Aristocracy has since completely devolved into an Oligarchy with the pageantry and trappings of pretending to be a democratic republic.
That was a slogan, not a reality.
It's still there, in the very exact same form it has ever been, serving exact same purpose.
It's cosmetic, an instruction on how to *appear* not how to be. Every political party _says_ they are by and for the people. Of course they only have certain of people in mind.
Don't think it has ever been different.
Similar goes for 'protect and serve' by police. They actually loyal to this idea, only that it doesn't refer to the nation and people - but rather to the system and power
One of the most meaningful things I've listened to in a while.
Thank you for this.
In Australia our politicians are now routinely moving from their portfolios into high payed positions within the industry their portfolio covered. They are also making very favourable policy for industries like mining, gambling, and property development. On top of that, they are laying the legislative groundwork to support policies that could, concevably, see me fined or jailed for this post in the future.
Run!!!… and then the question is where? We the people will stand up together when there is nowhere to run. Can they lock all 99% of us up? They are trying.
This is where being unburdened by what has been gets you.
🤣
I grew up a middle class kid.
@Ziegfried82 - Isn't that what most of our politicians claim........
Aristotle knew Democracy would always be evil.
Democracy is not inherently evil, it just requires a very educated and moral population. Democracy has to come at a time after other forms of righteous governance have provided prosperity enough for the people to be predominantly educated and moral enough to govern themselves, and then give them the power. But yes, it's almost a fantasy land. Perhaps it would work on a small island village.
@@TreaxvourThat is because Aristotle knew the dangers of true democracy from what happened to Socrates. In a true democracy there is a danger of mob rule due to a wave of hysterical panic or an unofficial tyranny lead by a cult of personality.
@@masoudmirmohammadi3479 So did Alexander Fraiser Tytler who said: “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.”
Absolutely brilliant essay on Aristotle's analysis of Olgiarchy.
Well done and spot on regarding today’s mess.
The main problem is people don't see democracy as a deviant system just because they think they have power to elect someone... and it seems having a choice means more value to them even if the options are bad...
Thomas jefferson summed it up "democracy is mob rule where 51% can tell the other 49% what they are allowed to do"
It is not but what they call "democracy" in our time is not the radical Athenian or late Theban democracy that Aristotle knew (and hated) but an oligarchy pretending to be a polity.
In conflict management theory there is a techinque called«forced choice» or «limited options» where you make the other side choose among a small number of alternatives decided by you. All the alternatives lead to the same outcome and the choice they are given is illusory. At best, the end destination is predetermined and they get to choose the path to it.
Western democracy looks a lot like that. It is a tool for managing conflict between the rulers and the ruled. We get to vote every 4 years, and they get to do whatever they want. Democracy today is mostly performance. There are no real options. There is no option that will actually defend the interests of the common man.
If voting mattered, they wouldn’t let us do it.
South African here I think that you could definitely say that we went from British terony to Afrikaaner oligarchy, and we are now in a bantu oligarchy which seems to be boiling into a dictatorship we just don't have the right dictator yet
We should be our own dictator. I take care of me and you take care of you and I will help you if and when I can as I can only hope you would help me as we are all in this together. Fellow born South African here. Just want to be allowed to be.
Honestly the Paris 2024 opening was the clearest picture that we are ruled by global elites 😂 @7:55
Please explain.
I didn't watch it
The global elites belong to the same cult of Mr. Tall Mudd. They worship Luciffer but, pay lip service to Moshe for the TV cameras.
It’s was sick and perverse , the decline of the west is saddening but inevitable , Europe is circling the plughole and it’s being dramatically speeded up by fighting Russia through that ultra corrupt oligarchy in Ukraine - until westerners wake up in general and realise their governments are all crooks and everything they say is a lie then we are doomed , far too many people trust politicians and if you look at the last 2 decades where is there any progress or success ? They have enriched themselves whilst at the same time introducing nothing but problems for ordinary citizens .
There's only one way to rule a society perfectly, or to mold a perfect society: every single citizen must be perfect, which is why utopia will never happen. The best we can achieve is to improve ourselves as we improve our systems of government, while still remaining fiercely loyal to individual freedoms within the context of a common good. Something like that, anyway.
Governments are ultimately a reflection of the people themselves.
One of the next best ways is to have a society that raises it's youth to be scholars *and* warriors, for the sake of being able to see and understand the workings of the world they live in, along with being able to make or force change if and when it becomes corrupted by a select few.
*This is the exact reason the education system has devolved, making people dumber, and why people are given "bread and circus," distracting them from self improvement and covering their eyes with a false sense of security and peace.
If people want people and society to improve they must first stop using pointlessly generalized terms such as the common good.
I agree. The greatness of the American experiment was the principles it espoused, namely the sanctity of individual rights and a limited government that only exists to protect those rights. Whether the original form the US government took actually embodied those principles is debatable. The principles are good though. We have an opportunity to develop a system that gets closer to those values. With the cold power of technology to control individuals in subtle and overt ways we desperately need to get this accomplished post haste.
A Free Constitutional Republic based on God's Common/Natural Laws was supposed to be an imperfect counter balance!
What you are describing is a plutocracy (rule of the rich) which Aristotle described as a corrupt form of Oligarchy (rule of the few). Aristotle believed that there could be good oligarchies, as long as the leaders were chosen for merit. He called an aristocracy (rule of the best). Sadly the term aristocracy now has very different associations.
All of us are much closer to being homeless than becoming rich. Rich oligarchs make their money off of the working people. They have no problem exploiting people for their own gain. It's a story as old as the creation of money.
The problem isn't that the rich do this but there is a lack of systems that allow for meritocracy and easy options for people to walk away
@@raven-sf3di Have you really listened to this lecture at all?
@@vaska1999 yup four times in fact . Did you watch it and understand?
Oligarchies aren't just about gaining money they are mostly about having power and control. They love systems where you have to jump through hoops often because they (and their friends) have a dictatorship over that system and will become rich off of it .
The best way to rob the rich from controlling people and systems is to have systems where people can better themselves or a way for the common person to rise up to places of power but can't close off the system to maintain power for themselves.
Working for income isn't exploitation. It's a consentual agreement. Quit trying to make excuses not to work, comrade.
@@maxstrike3022A consensual agreement that you are forced to do depending on the class and place that you are born in.
The idea that something derives from pure free will because we choose that relies on the idea that everyone starts under the same conditions, and this is simply not true. Some people are forced to work worse and more exausting works just by virtue of being born in a specific place, at an specific time.
0:58 "occasionally" lol
One of the best videos I have ever seen
Outstanding
Our oligarchy has become increasingly corrupt and less meritocratic, promoting people based on loyalty to them rather than merit. You can see that in our universities, where they make standardized tests like the SAT or ACT optional or abolish them all together, but they definitely consider your ability to pay their outrageous tuition that grows so much faster than overall inflation. That helps their wealthy but lazy and sometimes dumb children get in. They use affirmative action to divide the middle and working classes and as a form of window dressing, unconcerned with whether these people graduate or are well placed. You can see it in medicine, where they ban medications that have the dangerous possibility of actually curing people and cutting off hospital medical streams, like Ivermectin. They force people to take injections no one wants to go to school. Their CEOs often have no record of success in business that I know of. Susan Wojcicki? Carly Fiorina? At the very top, they’ve been able to print their own money since 1913.
meritocratic? What do you mean? :D they stole fair and square so they diserve to keep it? :D
There was good reason that usury was a capital offence. Your last sentence is what the rest hinges on. Unless you take that power away from them it will only end one way. They will own everything and we will own nothing.
Exactly
A certain ethnic group has control of the state department and they have ancient blood feud with the Slavs. Oh and they print the money.
Print their own money = borrow large sums of money...which is unfair
A large middle class is a necessary condition for a fair, representative government. Economic power = Political power.
The oligarchy in canada was originally called the family compact. The blood lineage is a powerful means unfortunately laughed at by oligarchs and their flying monkeys...
And the Chateau Clique.
Blood lineage is laughable even by peasants.... your flying monkey metaphor is obtuse...are we not all flying monkeys these days = airlines
Masonic Lodge Leeches!
"We'll fight the oligarchy by electing a silver spoon Billionaire criminal!! Yea that'll work!!"
Watch a documentary on the Trumps history. You will see how the silver spoon came to be. The rich will always rule. I hope you and yours will always be safe. I know my poor ass won’t.
Thank you so much for giving us such a clear idea of what kind of government we have today (en-route to oligarchy) or something like that. Not a reassuring news but at least we know what to expect. Good work.
Direct to the point. I hope many see and understand your vid.
We live in an Oligarchy, everyone in The West is ruled by an oligarchy
And everyone in the East.
According to Aristotle, the polity is the name for a community that is governed and led by the rational or prudent members. In Aristotle's politics, the polity is one of the good forms of government; it is the legitimate rule of the majority. In his opinion, the negative counterpart to the polity is a bad democracy.
Furthermore, Aristotle believes that the rational members of the community who govern the state should come from the middle class:
"For if I have correctly said in my ethics that the happy life is that in which one can practice virtue without hindrance and that virtue is a mean, then a middle life must necessarily be the best, and indeed from such a mean as is possible for everyone to achieve. The same regulations must also apply to the state in relation to its virtue or wickedness and to its government, because government is in a sense the life of the state.”
He then justifies this by saying that the middle class has sufficient wealth and therefore neither too little nor too much. It is therefore unlikely that a negative form of rule will arise from it.
Polybius, on the other hand, differentiated further in terms of terminology and referred to ochlocracy as the negative variant of popular rule, while the term “democracy” has positive connotations for him.
He sees ochlocracy as the decay or “degeneration” of the democratic form of government, a mob rule in which a mass of people selfishly enforces its political decisions as a majority or through violence. In this case, the orientation towards the common good is lost, and instead self-interest and greed determine the actions of citizens.
And that is what we will get, at least temporarily. Rassemblement National in France, Alternative for Germany, Freedom Party of Austria, the MAGA movement of the American Republicans or the Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie in the Netherlands. Right-wing extremist movements and trends are blossoming everywhere, supported by a little or not at all educated, agitated mass, and are well on their way to bringing figures to power in a democratically legitimate way who have nothing else in mind than to abolish democracy as quickly as possible.
Of course, the intellectual elites of the extreme right are already grinning broadly, ready to take control again after the system has been overthrown by the mob. And even if they are now eagerly claiming that they are the real advocates and true representatives of the common people, they will very quickly install another oligarchy. This time, however, in the pretty guise of neo-fascism and kleptocracy, i.e. movements and parties of the extreme New Right that feel committed to the strongman leader principle and an ethnically or racially based elitism and cultivate an exaggerated nationalism, militant anti-socialism and a latent willingness to use violence, but at the same time, as a rule of thieves, have everything else in mind than the well-being of the general public. Forms of government that were not yet known in ancient Greece.
I wish all supporters of these parties and movements of madness and mental illness a lot of fun and enjoyment and am glad and happy that I only have to experience this shit in the very last part of my otherwise very enjoyable life.
Years ago, I worked for a family firm that owned shopping malls in one of the Atlantic provinces. The brothers routinely flew from Montreal to New Brnswick to "have lunch" with the premier of the province, obviously to give him his marching orders. We have another infamos family, the Desmarais clan, Franco-Ontarians with properties and businesses in Quebec who have totally infiltrated politics and control the premiers and countless other elected officials who work for them at their companies when they are not in political office. There is a great photo on a book cover of the Desmarais men yelling and pointing in the face of premier Charest of Quebec over lunch. Aristotle would be right on target here.
See my comment above starting with 'neoliberalism'.
i like when the bankers are pointing fingers at the chest of the king of england who was best friends with jimmy saville, best photo that shows how the world actually works
Those famillies also follow orders from the Rothchilds.
@@servusvero I haven't seen that one, but yeah, that's how it works.
@@inliem5171 Oops.... can't find it. Searched for 'neo and nothing comes up under this vid.
I always loved the argument called "Iron law of oligarchy." No matter what system you get, it will eventually end up in the hands of a few rich oligarchs.
@@skylinefever where is this law written?
@@skylinefever or I should say “where does that argument originate from?”
@@Nosnoozebuttonhumanity
If a society drop the idea to a hierarchy of power, so government, and everyone can freely defend himself, than thanks to competitions no one can hold infinite power and no one can enforce his position to the rest.
Well done! A smart way to get important truths out! Please continue. ❤❤❤
And that is 1000% what we have today.
Concerning the Aristotelian Polity (Πολιτεία). This is the Res Public, i.e. Republic. I wrote a comment yesterday which I copy here for the understanding: A Republic (res public, assembly or thing of the people) is a participation system enclosing most if not all stakeholders. It is different from the Democracy, since its rules are subject to a consensus rather than imposing the rule of the many upon the few, i.e. the republic respects minority stakeholders. The problem with Athens and later with Rome is that the rich stakeholders, abused the system, with first of all Pericles and later the Roman Families, with target to create empires instead of good regulated states. The two party system is an echo of this system, where one party represents the population and the other party represents the industries. Unfortunately both parties got infiltrated by extreme capitalists and here we are today, praying to survive the next day. Take care yourself and the ones you love.
@@christopherneufelt8971 yes. It’s impossible to have an empire abroad and a Republic at home. The profit and power from building an empire (oligarchy) eventually returns back to the republic and is able to use their money and power to buy the influence to build THEIR (the oligarch’s) consensus. Which is where we are today with the US global empire. At the end of the day… only weak men are able to be bought off.
"...extreme capitalists..." Mercantilism.
Consensus imposes the rule of the many on the few or at least the fewer -- under the guise of suasion.
@@vaska1999 The consensus in Republic works somehow different. The demanded legislation from one group of stakeholders, needs to respect the rights and duties of all the opposing stakeholders; in a democracy, the demanded legislation does not need to respect the rights and duties of all the opposing stakeholders; this is why the American Founding Fathers (which actually I have a great respect) were opposing democracy and even warn in their papers against it. Incidently, the term DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC, affiliated with overwhelmly communistic regional entities, describes precisely the democratic methodology, but of course in these entities there are no parties, only stakeholders of the same party. Considering the current status of The West, we see that we have a democratic method of legislation with no opposition as method by the current stakeholders: luck of opposition to this method is for me a proof of collaboration between parties rather than proof or a republic. In addition, all the current stakeholders are affiliated with banking, which by Aristotle was considered a grey area due to the accumulation of capital and control of economy by means of no work. Take care yourself and the ones you love.
Greed can be, and has been weaponised. If the oligarch class can persuade everyone to "beggar their neighbour" for personal gain, they get everyone else to collect together the "wealth". Thus like multiple sponges, wealth gets concentrated only for the oligarchs and ultimately the ultimate tyranny to squeeze those sponges into a single pot. We (the whole world) are in the final stage where all is being orchestrated into the hands of an unseen very few.
Ancient wisdom still applies because human nature doesn't change. The politics of power are part of human nature. As are dozens of other traits, including compassion and fairness. We just don't pursue compassion and fairness as energetically as we pursue power.
This is why a society that aligns toward virtue as an effort to maximize the production of wisdom matters. The vice driven deviants know this, and it is why we have had so many centuries of despotism kept in place.
Sounds pure, but idk I see a problem. Tells you're kinda deep in terms of morals, projecting evil around and framing society a powerless victim.
I'm not giving up the hope for human flourishing, just don't believe emotional virtue pander jerk gonna help. We all have different roles I guess, not trying to destroy ideals, just offering a take
@@whataboutthis10 With respect, you're misunderstanding my position, and I am also willing to bet you don't fully understand why applying the varieties of virtue matters when noting your response. Fully stamping out vice is impossible, but when a society fundamentally aligns toward virtue as various pockets through time and space have shown, those societies have flourished, and were only brought down by more powerful vice driven A'holes. We are now existing on a global scale that requires a reunderstanding of why aligning toward virtue both individually and collectively matters as an effort to maximize wisdom on an international level, or we can expect this so-called civilization to turn into a full-blown international plantation, which it is on the verge of becoming, or massive collapse.
The Who was more succinct: Meet the new boss, same as the Old boss.
Townsend was only paraphrasing Orwell.
I highly recommend the economist/historian Michael Hudson for his books and online lectures. He describes how the unchecked rise of oligarchies and uncontrolled debt peonage of the poor was a central factor in the decline of major empires.
It almost seems like our very nature ensures repeated periods of virtue and tryanny.
Almost as if it’s fallen…or something
Cyclical...like seasons.
The rich and powerful of today actually read this book some time ago. They, and their methods of control, have evolved beyond it. Although there are still reflections and archetypes that associate with Aristotle's description. The trick is for all of us to evolve and see and act in light of these changes. Good video, thanks for posting!
Absolutely spot on. The ancient Greeks were so genius or may I say superior minds for that era compared to any other civilisation at the time. Aristotle was brilliant. Thank you so much for the excellent video and content.Everything you mentioned and explained is exactly related to our societies and leaders right now. It's so spot on I can't believe it. Bravo Sir. Bless you.
All "government" styles tend to go back to feudal, that is, the ones in power hold onto power, fighting for more. You end up with "The ruling class" and the peasants.
So yes, all the governments are going to oligarchy or a religious version of it.
Basic reason for a minimalistic State. Communist revolution is the re evolving to a feudalism based on ideology instead of genealogy.
The worrying thing is, once robot armies become a reality, revolution will no longer be possible and the oligarchs will have eternal dominance.
@@djinn666 wait you're saying we're actually running out of time
@@djinn666Then thank god, that the firmwares of almost all devices is full of exploitable bugs. 🤫
@@allesdurchprobiert pretty cool with many programmers recently freed from their jobs
Thank you! This was such a great video! I think we basically live in oligarchies in the West. I think also most of the people are fed up with this. Populism is on the rise and I get this feeling a new Caesar is just around the corner.
Let's hope it will be a Marcus Aurelius and not a Commodus 😬
@@TheLegendaryLore Commodus followed almost inevitably Marcus Aurelius.
@@TheLegendaryLore not bro selling us for a 'good guy'
We don't have the quality population from which to form a new Caesar in the classic sense. This is by design. America has become a demographic landfill so, forget about finding a classic strongman to arise and save us. Visit a large landfill sometime and consider the metaphor. You'll see what I mean.
The Oligarchy description perfectly sums up the UK at the moment
Not for the moment but for the past two hundred years I’m afraid.
all countries today are this way.
Oligarchy sounds like the US and UK political systems. Word for word.
True, the US and UK Just like the original Oligarchs of ancient Sparta: constantly involved in proxy wars.
You have narrow vision with bias blinders on if you think it's just the us and UK
@@SAR0311 I don't think it's just those 2, but they are 2 that I know most about and didn't want it to be too long.
i have summoned all my own experiences and current geopolitics to conclude most of what is in this priceless video!!!
if i had studied aristotle a long time ago
i might be wiser earlier !
this is fantastic and the way it has been presented is likely easier to assimilate than in his writings and for that and the matrix presentation the video maker deserves enormous gratitude and compliment !!!🙏🏽✌🏽☝🏽👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
It's a really sad world where most "democracies" have walked some or most of the path toward oligarchy.
It’s not the wealthy, making our lives a living hell, it’s our terrible government, and they love that you were blaming everyone but them
All of them
Aristotle was rather rosey-eyed and romantic about aristocracy but insightful and accurate about the other forms of rule.
His students and friends were aristocratic. He was one of Alexander's tutors. Whose father was a wealthy, powerful king. Also Ptolemy, Seleucas, Harpalus, Creitus, etc
Study Cunfusis, his insight into what great rulers do as compared to poor ones is spot on.
they were clearly built different back then
The best thing I have listened to in a long, long time!!!
History repeats itself in vicious cycles.....time and time again.
Nice job explaining the current government of the USA, an oligarchy in danger of becoming a tyranny.
Brilliant! One of the best political videos I've ever seen.
Sums up Canada and US very nicely.
And Australia and Britain.
There is a very old saying: "He who has the gold, makes the rules". The truth is, whether you want to believe it or not, is that the uber rich has ALWAYS ruled, or at the very least held much influence over their country's government or whoever sat on the throne. The difference was this: In years past, these very rich people viewed themselves as sons and daughters of their homelands. Because their wealth was tied to their land holdings: vast farms, factories, mines, etc, they had a common interest in that respect with the middle class and even the poor. Not so anymore thanks to globalization. When a billionaire living in California has their wealth tied to their business interest in China, the middle-east, Mexico, or name your foreign country, it is a very different matter. That bond is gone, or at the least it is vastly eroded. Never before until relatively recently has this been the case. As for the tens of millions of "migrants" pouring into the US and Europe over the last twenty years or so, it is because the .000000001% wants it that way. By driving down our standard of living, they are boosting theirs. And make no mistake, they aren't paying for all of this, we are. This is why you will not find a nationalist billionaire. They are all globalist, and they want you to be a "global citizen" too.
This is spot on
Great video, you perfectly explained the situation in Australia right now, I can’t recognise my own country anymore,,in five years it will be a dystopian nightmare for anyone speaking out against the all ruling authoritarian regime- we are no longer a free democratic nation
oligarchy is a general-purpose word. rule by army leaders, priests, politicians and castes are all oligarchies. it just means, 'rule by a few.'
aristotle had a particular word fot rule by the rich, 'plutocracy..' precisely, 'rule by the rich.'
it's an informal rule, politicians manage the state, publicly, but listen when their rich patron tells them what to do.
all oligarchies are dependent on the submission of the people. this submission is gained by a mix of threat and lies.
'we' forgot nothing. 'we' were never told that democracy works,
'we' were told democracy didn't work. then 'we' were told 'democracy does work,' but only when we let politicians do democracy for 'us.'
democracy does work, although examples are few. but ingnorant people are easily lied to, and lazy people are easily controlled,
result: oligarchy is the normal state of mankind. this normal state is leading us off a cliff, into evolutionary failure.
imagine letting shoddy creatures like harris and trump anywhere near the management of a nation. clearly usa society is profoundly corrupt.
'harris and trump' blowers of vested interests trumpet. Which the loudest?
Who is your mayor, city councilman, school board head, governor, senators, congressman, RepublCorporate wants it all and then some. Dumocrates settle for 75%.
love the channel man ❤
Thank you, brother! That really does mean a lot.
Aristotle exemplify that more things change... the more they stay the same. There are patterns that humans will fall into even if we know collectively that we ahould know better. This is why history and critical thinking are so important.
Truly timeless info .