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Musings Report #48 11-27-15 Domestic Violence and Capped Volcanoes
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For those who are new to the Musings reports: they are basically a glimpse into my notebook, the unfiltered swamp where I organize future themes, sort through the dozens of stories and links submitted by readers, refine my own research and start connecting dots which appear later in the blog or in my books. As always, I hope the Musings spark new appraisals and insights. Thank you for supporting the site and for inviting me into your circle of correspondents.
Margins of the Unfiltered Swamp #4
Welcome to our fourth Musings from the Margins of the Unfiltered Swamp--affectionately known by its acronym, MUS.
As mentioned in Musings #34, the last Musings of each month focuses solely on one topic or idea that is on the very margins of the unfiltered swamp, i.e. everything that goes into the Musings, the blog and my books.
The MUS is my opportunity to let my hair down, so to speak, and explore ideas that don't necessarily have a practical purpose or tidy conclusion.
Readers missed From Left Field, so MUS Musings include From Left Field.
Domestic Violence and Capped Volcanoes
I recently finished the book Venice: A New History, a fascinating one-volume account of Venice's rise to regional empire and its decline to tourist destination.
What struck me most powerfully was Venice's long success as a republic: it was the world's only republic for roughly 1,000 years.
How did the Venetians manage this? Their system of participatory democracy accreted over time, and was by no means perfect; only men of substance had much of a say. But strikingly, key political turning points were often triggered by mass gatherings of craftsmen and laborers (commoners).
Furthermore, the system was carefully designed to enable new blood to enter the higher levels of power. Commoners could rise to power (and take their families with them if their wealth outlasted the founding generation) via commercial success or military service in defense of Venice.
The Republic also developed a culture that frowned on personal glorification and cults of personality: the nobility and commoners alike deferred to the Republic rather than any one leader.
In Venice, the political leadership (the doge and the Council of Ten) were elected via a convoluted series of steps that made it essentially impossible for one clique to control the entire process.
The doge was elected for a term, not for life, and he had to be acceptable not just to the elites but the mass of movers and shakers--roughly 1,000 people in a city of at most 150,000.
Venice's crises emerged when social and financial mobility was capped by elites who were over-zealous in their pursuit of hegemony: all those blocked from rising to power/influence became the source of political revolt.
If you cap the volcano, eventually the pressure beneath rises to the point that the cap gets blown off in spectacular fashion.
This notion is visible in a remarkable Italian film from 1981, Three Brothers, by one of my favorite Italian directors, Francesco Rosi, who also directed Christ Stopped at Eboli.
The film follows the reactions of three brothers to the turmoil of 1970s Italy, a decade marked by labor strife and a spectrum of domestic terrorism: assassinations, kidnappings, bombings, etc.
One brother is a judge attempting to mete out justice in defense of democracy, which in his view is imperiled by domestic terrorism, corruption and violence. His life is at risk from domestic terrorists who see all judges as "enemies of the people" and by the Mafia.
The second brother is a social worker who heads a reform school for youth on the wrong side of the law, and he dreams of ending the endemic violence and corruption that leads youth astray.
The third brother's job is endangered by his union activism on behalf of better working conditions, activism which excuses beating up representatives of the Big Bosses.
These themes of domestic violence in response to a corrupt and unjust society are also at the heart of another well-regarded Italian film from 2003 (two parts of 3 hours each), Best of Youth, in which one character joins the Red Brigade, Italy's equivalent of Germany's Baader-Meinhof Gang (Red Army Faction), and the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) in the USA.
In a way, that each of these links is Italian is coincidental, as the thread that ties them all together--the suppression of social mobility and the monopolization of power by the few at the expense of the many--are universal themes in social orders.
Broadly speaking, Venice's 1,000-year Republican government, with its complex rules to limit concentrations of power and keep the boundaries between elites and commoners porous enough to diffuse revolution and social violence, speak to what is once again in play around the world: social unrest due to the concentration of power and the oppression of corruption and injustice.
I don't think it's a stretch to say that the greater the concentration of power, the greater the impermeability of the barriers between elites and commoners and the greater the corruption and injustice, the greater the odds that the volcano of social unrest will blow sky-high.
When the economy is expanding faster than population, and this tide is raising all ships, the majority of people feel their chances of getting ahead are positive.
But when the economy is shrinking, and those in power are amassing most of whatever gains are being registered (like now), then the majority will eventually realize their chances of securing a better life are declining. This is the pressure that is being capped by the Status Quo, which above all protects the privleged.
We don't yet see this social upwelling in the developed West or East, but if history is any guide, we soon will.
From Left Field
Creative Destruction (Thematic Investing)( via Drew S.)
Silicon Valley’s political endgame, summarized in 12 visuals (via Lew G.)
Charting The Full Impact Of Europe's Plunging Currency On U.S. Corporate Revenues
The stronger dollar appeared to be a factor in the weaker revenue performance of these companies in Europe.
If China Killed Commodity Super Cycle, Fed Is About to Bury It
As China’s Workforce Dwindles, the World Scrambles for Alternatives -- not to mention rising labor costs in China and the rest of the world...
Average Annual Cost Of Specialty Drugs Now Exceeds US Median Household Income -- is this sustainable? No...
Most Americans Hit "Peak Income" More Than 15 Years Ago -- mine peaked in 1977, in terms of hourly wage earned...
Even The 1% Is Hurting: Swiss Watch Exports Plunge Most Since Financial Crisis -- London real estate topping out, too....
How the Western Diet Has Derailed Our Evolution -- no surprise, eating refined foods is unnatural...
Gold COT (Commitments of Traders) and Weekly Chart Oversold Positive Divergence -- gold's drop to $1,052 may be the last gasp...
The 85 Richest People In The World Have As Much Wealth As The 3.5 Billion Poorest -- just as importantly importantly, the richest 10 million have more than the bottom 90%...
House passes bill to overhaul the Fed -- about time; political limits on the Fed are something I've often discussed...
"I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing." Socrates
Thanks for reading--
charles |
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