> Our natural rulers are those talented at leading people in the exercise of violence. Warlords, barons and earls of yore. Democracy is a bargain where the peop

> Our natural rulers are those talented at leading people in the exercise of violence. Warlords, barons and earls of yore. Democracy is a bargain where the people acting collectively protect people like Perkins from the warlords that would otherwise make them their bitches. > [From the comment below:] Hitler's persecution of the jews shows exactly the opposite of what [Perkins] claims it does: that when the masses turn a blind eye, no amount of wealth or scientific achievement will protect you from men whose talent is war and violence. It was an Atlas Shrugged moment, except it demonstrated that it's the ordinary masses that hold up the firmament of civil society. That is, without a doubt, THE best reason I've ever seen to seek to avoid too much inequality in society. It's not based on a priori political- or religious ideology, or on touchy-feely liberalism, but squarely on face-the-facts pragmatism. It ought to appeal greatly to thinking conservatives.