Today I’m going to write something that will probably cost me readers.
I know it, and I’m writing it anyway. I’ve been turning it over for years and I never find the clean moment to say it, so I’ll say it now, without dressing it up.
I want to talk about the monopoly of violence.
Think about how it all began. We were born to be free over the world, like any animal that opens its eyes without asking anyone’s permission. But fear is heavy. And over time people huddled together, first to defend themselves, then to farm, then simply because being together was easier than facing the night alone.
In every group, someone emerged as the one in charge. Someone who protected. And someone who protects ends up, sooner or later, deciding who to attack.
That’s how it went. One village took what another had stored. The winner grew stronger. The strongest won again. And the one who led those conquests was almost always the same man they’d appointed to keep them safe.
Rome, feudalism, empires. The mechanics…
