29.3.10

Size Matters

« A very populous city can rarely, if ever, be well governed.» ~ Aristotle

When it comes to good governance, size is everything.

According to the textbooks, the old empires collapsed when they got too big. The Roman, the Abbasid, the Han, the Tang, the British…why is that?

And while you think about that, consider this:

Unless the government of a geographically large state runs on a mechanism of terror, like in modern China, size will one day work against the distribution of control.

  • English: The bigger is a country, the harder it is to control the population.

•*¨*۞*¨*•

In consequence, the absence of control invites instability, and eventually chaos.

Chaos can be good for creative wildebeests young, creative folks. But it’s not so good if you’re trying to raise a child or approaching your retirement. Hence, the necessity of being under additional free floating fear.

Machiavellian as it sounds, it’s only logical: Fear controls wildebeest the general population’s behavior and, consequently, his welfare too.

•*¨*۞*¨*•

Of course, we know how mechanisms of terror will eventually burn itself out. Like what happened when the Soeharto regime weakened.

And that’s okay too; because when the Roman empire broke down, the Islamic empire rose. When the Islamic empire fell, came the industrial revolution.

And we know how grateful we are for 3Gs innernerding.

•۞•

Moral of this brain burst?

If you are patient and open-minded enough, time will explain and fix everything that size and power could not. Duh.

One Hundred Books in A Year: 17 Lessons Learned

Pexel 1.      Readers will read. Regardless to format or income or legality.   2.      Something to remember: The Prophet was illit...