Large organized societies always contain a latent mob of people who feel they are being cheated and who think they are helpless to change things. Usually their ire is directed at “the government” or at least at those who nominally lead that government. But the mob itself rarely revolts on its own. Its leaders usually come from the “upper” classes.
In the French revolution, for example, the mob was initially provoked by aristocrats who wanted more power (less taxes) themselves. They were aided by an intelligentsia who thought people should be treated better. Those dreamers soon lost control and were swept away in a bloodbath, when fanatic monomaniacs such as Robespierre took over.
Eventually, insurrection collapsed into brutal anarchy, the army sorted itself out, seized power and (being fully heirarchic in principle) installed a dictator/emperor. The mob was killed off in the streets or in wars. Life went on .
History is fun and can be misleading as a guide to the future. But it is interesting to draw comparisons between our current politics and those of Ancien Regime France, which was _ in fact _ better run and more “liberal” than the Napoleonic rule that replaced it.
The mob only listens to demagogues, but were I one, I would tell it to be careful what it wishes for .
HuntingtonHarborThoughts 