I think it was a heckuva lot cheaper for most of human history when there was no mass literacy or public schooling or universal suffrage. Perhaps we had a brief

I think it was a heckuva lot cheaper for most of human history when there was no mass literacy or public schooling or universal suffrage. Perhaps we had a briefly better time than now in the mid-20th century, but what we are seeing now is if anything a slight backslide to the usual state of affairs. In the larger arc of history, I think we're on the better end of things.