Look up and read an essay by Etienne de la Boetie, an essayist who was best friends with Montaigne. He died young and didn’t write much because he died young. Montaigne thought he was a genius.

Boetie wrote about the nature of power. His books often come with an introduction by a libertarian. Ignore the ideological introduction—Boetie is wise and insightful. The bottom line is that powerful people are ultimately weak and completely dependent on US. But the method they use to hold power is interesting and hasn’t changed in centuries.

Of course, sometimes people wake up and remove despots. The people of Sri Lanka did exactly that a few months ago. Of course, “experts” always have explanations of how the despot lost power, and opposition by the people is never the one they cite.

But, in fact, the people of Sr Lanka sent their “powerful” dictator literally fleeing for his life. The big secret of the powerful is that they depend on us giving up in advance; that they can’t create or do anything; the only command others and when people stop obeying, the “powerful” are usually just weak impotent old men.