| Blog Home | What is Aristocracy? | 2022.09 |
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ARISTOCRACY versus AZICRACY Aristocracy is rule by the best kind of person who is concerned for the people they rule over and has the abilities to do a good job. Azicracy is rule by the self-centred and power-hungry who don't care about the well-being of their subjects. OLD ENGLISH ARISTOCRACY The old English aristocracy at their best can give us some ideas about what makes a true aristocracy: i) They were well educated compared to everybody else. ii) Their upbringing was tough compared to that of today's middle-class. They knew how to fight and stand up for themselves. iii) They had a christian religion to inspire them to be useful to society at large and not just help themselves. iv) They had unearned wealth that left them with plenty of leisure time. The best of them used that leisure time to do socially useful things like be part of local and national government. As they didn't rely on income from their job to survive it was easier for them to remain honest and stick to their principles. v) In England the aristocracy spent a good deal of time on their country estate which meant interacting with people from other classes who worked for them. This gave them a knowledge of and sympathy to the (country) working class and meant they developed good intentions towards them. This was not the case for the English aristocracy in Scotland or Ireland - who were more likely to be absentee landlords spending most of their time in London and treating their estates just as sources of income. vi) As aristocrats were involved in governing their estates and the local rural population they developed hands-on experience of governing that set them up with the right skills if they became involved in national government. A NEW ARISTOCRACY A future new aristocracy wanting to take over from the modern Azicracy would need some of the same qualities as this old aristocracy. They would need to be well-educated, have leisure time, have independent income rather than be wage-slaves, have social contact with other classes, have hands-on experience of governing on a small-scale and have values that might be described as christian or noble that inspired them to work for the common good. |