There was a time, long before the vocabulary of politics came into existence, people used to work in their fields, harvesting their crops and believing that the fruits of their labor belonged to them. But things were not as simple as they thought. Soon, wanderers arrived. They were parasites who discovered that it was easier to loot than to sow. They took what they wanted and destroyed what they could not carry.
In desperation, the farmers proposed a compromise. They said, “take a portion, but spare the rest” and the looters agreed. And thus, without philosophy or constitution, taxation was born - not as a civic duty but as a price for staying alive.
Over time, the chief of these raiders declared himself king. Power, once stolen by force, now wore the mask of legitimacy.
Elsewhere, in scattered habitations, people gathered to resist these dacoits. They chose a leader to lead them. In that moment, a republic emerged. It’s birth was not from idealism but from necessity.
Two systems monarchy and republic born from the same fear and shaped by the same instinct and that was survival. Priest proclaimed the divine right of the kings. Thus, people surrendered before the rulers without questioning their legitimacy because it was against gods to question them.
Yet both the systems shared a common flaw. To protect themselves they needed soldiers. Soldiers meant fewer hands in the fields. Laborers became scarce. And scarcity, as always, invited exploitation. The poor, the defeated and the voiceless people were turned into slaves. Thus began the era of slavery. This was an institution justified by every system and still continues in many forms. I am not claiming that it started exactly as I have wrote above, but it gives a rough sketch of the image that we are seeing today.
Centuries passed, names changed and structures evolved. But their essence remained stubbornly familiar. No matter it was monarchy, autocracy or democracy, the human condition did not transform. Modern society congratulates itself for abolishing slavery, yet its spirit survives in subtler forms. The poor work for the comfort of the rich. Inequality persists like an ancient echo. Taxation, once a payment for mercy, often feels like a refined version of extortion. This is an obligation enforced by the every systems that claims to protect us.
We like to believe that systems are designed to serve humanity. But in reality mankind serves the system. A child is born free, yet grows into a world already divided by wealth, by power and by invisible rules written long before their birth. Only a few benefit from these structures while the rest spend their lives sustaining them. This is not cynicism. It is an observation as old as civilization itself.
The real question is not whether the system is flawed. It is whether we could ever create a system that truly reflects the dignity of the human spirit. Perhaps the root of our suffering lies not in kings or parliaments but in our collective surrender to structures that outgrow their purpose. A system should be a tool. Instead, it becomes a master. And so the vicious cycle starts. It can never change until we dare to imagine something different.
Thanks for reading.
