Opus 2021-009: The Peasants Are Revolting

Would the various peasant revolts and slave rebellions of history have been successful in a republic?  I did a Google search on “peasant revolts” thinking I would find a few and Wikipedia gave me a list that just kept on scrolling.  It was color coded to show success, failure and ongoing uncertainty.  The list started with the Anti-Qin revolts in China around 200 BC and ended up with the Zapatistas in Mexico in 1994.  The overwhelming result was defeat for the peasants.  What was interesting to me during a quick scrolling was that most of the successful revolts took place in China.  Keep in mind this is Wikipedia, so consider the source.

The peasants usually had the numbers and commitment.  They sometimes could acquire arms.  They even had some leaders with experience.  Why did they always lose?  Loyalty and oaths.

One item common in Feudal systems and monarchies is that the average soldier has made a commitment and sworn an oath to the person directly above them.  It was the way the entire system held together.  People were not loyal to a political structure.  They were loyal to a person, and the commitment went both ways in theory.  They traded loyalty for protection.  In the feudal systems the man at arms was serving his lord, not the country or even the king.  

In monarchies the rank and file is loyal to the king, not the state.  Once again the loyalty is to the person but it goes beyond one level of people.  This is one of the reasons why kings were the enemies of the nobility.  It is why the common people and cities tended to side with the king.  He gave them protection from overbearing Dukes, Earls, Barons and so forth.  

In dictatorships they swear to support the fearless leader.  It is very similar to monarchy.  

In the American republic the military takes an oath to protect and support the Constitution, not the president or general.  Their oath is not to any one person.  It is not even to the state.  It is to the political contract created by the Founders and based on the idea that our rights are not given by government.  There is an organization called Oath Keepers.  They are a group of people who took the oath to “defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”  This is a part of the oaths taken by people inducted into the military and, surprisingly, by United States Senators also.  

In the spirit of Fake News and Progressive editing of our history, Wikipedia labels this group as “an American far-right anti-government militia organization.”  Keep in mind that the people who control your education also feel that loyalty to the Constitution is a right wing hate concept.

Of course, in a republic the politicians and judges take the same oath.  How has that been working out?  If all falls apart, the question will be whom the rank and file soldier will support.  My fervent hope is that we find a way to work through the current controversy and reestablish the rule of law.  If it comes to another peasant revolt the big question is whether the modern men at arms will be loyal to their minders or to their oath.

I hope I never find out.

homo unius libri