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The Servile State Revisited

I am haunted by an observation of the philosopher David Hume, which I must quote approximately from memory: “To the philosophic eye, nothing is more surprising than the ease with which the many are ruled by the few.”

Consider my little dog Zipper, a Shetland sheepdog. She is a bright, sweet little thing, but no watchdog. She is afraid of other animals, even squirrels; she has never been in a fight, even with other small dogs. Yet she has been genetically endowed, through centuries of breeding, with authority over sheep.

Now Zipper has never even seen a sheep. I vaguely hope to buy her one someday, circumstances permitting. But dogs of her breed and size have been herding sheep in Scotland for ages. If she saw it done, I suppose she would quickly pick up the knack.

To me this is a fascinating fact. A whole flock of sheep will obey a single small, yapping dog. “There thou might’st behold the great image of authority,” says King Lear: “A dog’s obeyed in office.” Maybe this is where Hume got his idea. The sheep could easily ignore, or even overpower, the dog, but they don’t.

Aren’t men really the same way?...