Name: 3 Rules for Rulers
Uploaded: 2016-10-25T18:20:08.000Z
Duration: 19 min 33 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Do you want to rule?  Do you see the problems in your country and know how to fix them?

Adverbs of manner

But before we begin this lesson in political power, ask yourself why don't rulers see as clearly as you...

...instead acting in such, selfish, self-destructive, short-sighted ways?

Are they stupid… these most powerful people in the world?

The throne looks omnipotent from afar, but it is not as it seems.

Take the throne to act, and the throne acts upon you.

Accept that or turn back now before we discuss, the Rules for Rulers.

No matter how bright the rays of any sun king: No man rules alone.

A king can’t build roads alone, can’t enforce laws alone, can't defend the nation or himself, alone.

The power of a king is not to act, but to get others to act on his behalf, using the treasure in his vaults.

A king needs an army, and someone to run it.

The individuals needed to make the necessary things happen are the king's keys to power.

All the changes you wish to make are but thoughts in your head if the keys will not follow your commands.

In a dictatorship, where might makes right, the number of keys to power is small, ...

...perhaps only a dozen generals, bureaucrats, and regional leaders.

Sway them to your side and the power to rule is yours, but...

...never forget: displease them and they will replace you.

Now all countries lie on a spectrum from those where the ruler needs few key supporters to those where the ruler needs many...

...this foundation of power is why countries are different.

Yet many keys or few, the rules are the same:

First, get the key supporters on your side.

With them, you have the power to act; you have everything.  Without them, you have nothing.

Now in order to keep those keys to power, you must, second:

You must make sure your treasure is raised and distributed to you -- for all your hard work

-- and to the keys needed to keep your position.

This is your true work as a ruler: figuring out how best to raise and distribute resources,

...so as not to topple the house of cards upon which your throne sits.

Now you, aspiring benevolent dictator, may want to help your citizens,...

...but your control of the treasure is what attracts rivals, so you must keep those keys loyal.

But there is only so much treasure in your vaults, so much wealth your kingdom produces.

So beware: every bit of treasure spent on citizens is treasure not spent on loyalty.

Thus, doing the right thing, spending the wealth of the nation on the citizens of the nation,...

...hands a tool of power acquisition to your rivals.

Treasure poured into roads, and universities, and hospitals, is treasure a rival can promise to key supporters if only they switch sides.

Benevolent dictators can spend their take on the citizens, but the keys must get their rewards,...

for *even if* you have gathered the most loyal, angelic supporters, they have the same problem as you, just one level down...

Being a key to power is a position of power.

They too must watch out for rivals from below or above: thus the treasure they get must also be spent to maintain their position.

The loyal and dim may stay by your side no matter what,...

...but smart key supporters, will always watch the balance of power, ready to change allegiance if you look to be the loser in a shifting web of alliances.

In countries where the keys are few, the rewards are great...

...and when violence rules, the most ruthless are attracted; and angels that build good works will lose to devils that don't.

So buy all the loyalty you can, because loyalty, in dictatorial organizations of all kinds, is everything.

A king who needs his court to raise the treasure to keep the court loyal and keep raising the treasure.

This is the self-sustaining core of power, all outside is secondary.

Now a king with many key supporters has real problems:

not just their expense, but also their competing needs and rivalries are difficult to balance,...

...the more complicated the social and financial web between them all, the more able a rival is to sway a critical mass.

The more key supporters a ruler has on average, the shorter their reign.

Which brings us to the third rule for rulers:

If a key in your court becomes unnecessary, his skills no longer required, you must kick him out.

After a successful coup,  the new dictator will purge some of those who helped him come to power,...

... while working with the underlings of the previous dictator -- which from the outside seems a terrible idea.

Are the old dictator's supporters not a danger?

But the keys necessary to gain power are not the same as those needed to keep it.

Having someone on the payroll who was vital in the past, but useless now is the same as spending money on the citizens: treasure wasted on the irrelevant.

And by definition, a dictator that pulls off a coup has promised greater treasure to those switching sides.

The size of the vault has not changed, so the treasure must be split among fewer.

A dictator that sways the right keys, takes control of the treasure, cuts unnecessary spending, kills unnecessary keys, will have a long and successful career.

Seeing the structure unveiled, you might be excited to get started and control a country to the benefit of you and your cronies,...

...or you might be exhausted, wishing to do good but seeing the structural difficulties, now turn to democracy for salvation.

So let us discuss rulers as representatives.

You again might have grand dreams of the utopia you wish to build, but: no man rules alone.

Presidents and Prime ministers must negotiate with their senates and parliaments and vice versa.

And they all have their own key supporters to manage.

In a well-designed democracy, power is fractured among many, and is taken not with force but with words,…

… meaning you must get thousands or millions of citizens to if not like you on election day, …

…at least like you better than the alternative.

With so many voters and such fractured power it's impossible to, as a dictator would,…

…follow these rules and buy loyalty.  Or is it?

Don't think of citizens as individuals with their individual desires, but instead as divided into blocs:

…the elderly, or homeowners, or business owners, or the poor.  Blocs you can reward as a group.

Democracies have wildly complicated tax codes, and laws, not as accident but as reward

for the blocks that get and keep the ruling representatives in power:

Farming subsidies, for example, have nothing to do with the food a nation needs, ...

...but entirely with how key the vote of the farming bloc is.

Countries where farmers’ votes don't swing elections, don’t have farming subsidies.

If a bloc doesn’t vote, such as younger citizens, then no need to divert rewards their way.

Even if large in number, they are irrelevant to gaining power.

Which is good news for you: one less block to sway and the treasure you give to your key blocks has to come from somewhere...

If you want long years in office, rule three is your friend in a democracy just as much as a dictatorship.

You can't eliminate those who don’t vote for you, but there is still much you can do.

Once in power, make it easier for your key blocks to vote and harder for others.

Establish voting systems that reduce the number of blocs you need to win the more rivals you get,…

Draw election borders to predetermine the results for you or your cronies, …

…and have party pre-elections with Byzantine rules to determine who blocs even *can* vote for.

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3 Rules for Rulers

key

farming

book

poor