> This is usually solved by violence, sometimes blessedly by negotiation, but it is always solved: once the wishes of ever smaller in number choke out the hope

> This is usually solved by violence, sometimes blessedly by negotiation, but it is always solved: once the wishes of ever smaller in number choke out the hope and dignity of the ever larger in number to sufficient degree: change happens as surely as winter turns to spring. A friend of mine urged me to read 'War and Peace and War', Peter Turchin, last year. It's essentially a book-length confirmation, with examples, of your final point.