The Public Cover-Up

Revolutions occur, mainly, when people--especially young men who see their reproductive options effectively foreclosed by lack of opportunity to support the families their biologies demand--decide they have nothing to lose.

When you have nothing, you have nothing to lose.

But when you have ANYTHING, then you have EVERYTHING to lose.

That's the chance (hell, it's pretty much a certainty) when revolutions happen: burned-out businesses and houses, infrastructure shattered, wrecked and blackened cars, dead dogs in the streets. That's one reason why "home ownership" is such a central part of the American dream.

What? You thought it was "natural?" Nah. Allowing the proles to "own" their homes (usually an elaborate leasing deal, subject to revocation at any time, rather than a "purchase," per se) is a prophylactic against disquiet, unrest, and kolob forbid, outright revolt.

The "people" are not, for the most part, I believe "fat, dumb and happy." Rather they are fat, dumb, and terrified, and have sunk into self-protective inertia. Like a pangolin caught among lions, they're rolled up tight, with their vulnerable bellies inside, and a spiky array of armor-plates to keep the lion off.

Of course, the success of the maneuver depends to a large extent on the size and ferocity of one's attacker. A pangolin may thwart a lion this way, but armadillos rely on the same stratagem, and it doesn't work at ALL well against cars...