Unsustainable Systems
Human society is a series of conflicts, Trotsky said, “Every state is founded on force.” and if we use ancient Rome as an example, we can see this idea's progression through time. Ancient Rome moved rapidly from warring clans, through kingship, to a revolution that lead to the rise of an aristocratic class that divided their society into one of haves and have nots. Those who were so poor that when they went into debt, they had to sell themselves just to stay alive. They were also the ones who made up the majority of Romes' army and the first to get attacked outside of Romes' walls if they were farmers, which led to the entire army leaving Rome defenseless at least twice in protest. But let's get back to the analysis shall we?
Both Karl Marx through his creation of Historical Materialism and Conflict Theory, as well as, Aristotle, through book I of “Politics” prove that the state and society have formed in this way.
Aristotle theorizes that once currency is created, individuals begin to want to accumulate as much as possible, with the fastest ways of doing this being taking advantage of his fellow men through low wages, lending, and interest rates, as well as, through investment (money making money) and commerce. Marx moves this theory further along by saying such economic activity is the very foundation that shapes society and a major driver of inequality and injustice.
The state then, or its interpretation thereof throughout time has been one of legitimizing authority and power. Currency by it's very definition enables the wielder more power over one who doesn't have as much. Thus, those with the most have the most to loose, if they don't tie their power to that of authority. By making up the rules, they secure their position and that of everyone else.
Aristotle said currency was the cause of inequality and greed. Marx says its our domination by the state and economic structure. Moving forward Max Weber states that it's rationalization devoid of values originally found in religion and ethics that causes disparity and dehumanization over time.
If I was to add to this I would say that they were all correct and noticing different aspects in an unsustainable system. From the moment we as a collective species decided that some people were better than others, by not having a set of ethics in place to prevent it (greed and a lust for power), we have been trapped within an advancing system that reinforces these divisions until it has encapsulated all life; human and non on a planetary level.
Plato said it before in his theory of five regimes that where democracy ends, tyranny begins. Once we hit that limit where we no longer recognize each other as being human beings, we've lost. We are reaching the end of our current systems ability to maintain itself. The only thing left for us to decide is whether or not we want to form a better system or accept imminent collapse. Because unlike all the other times in our history as a species, a habitable environment was never on the line. ...