"In the Middle Ages, the Church was the most powerful institution in the western world. In England, the struggle between church and kings would take centuries to resolve. Interestingly, in the end, neither institution came out on top. Today, each is as powerless as the other. As people power emerged, we invented politicians. We're not bright."
~ Jodi Taylor, from her novel A Symphony of Echoes .
Wednesday, 16 January 2019
#QotD "The struggle between church and kings would take centuries to resolve... Today, each is as powerless as the other. As people power emerged, we invented politicians. We're not bright."
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There is a truism in minerology: The slowest face controls growth. The same is true in politics. The start of the bureaucracy and the deep state was in the Middle Ages, as clerks (nominally members of the Church, but only because the Church was the only place to learn to read) began to gain footholds in pretty much every European country. They soon took over a great deal of the grunt work of the governments, leaving the pageantry to the kings and nobles. Turns out, the grunt work has a longer shelflife than the pageantry.
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