Slaves yearn for freedom, at least before being broken; serviles don’t.

It is opprobrious to be “bought and paid for” — demeaning. But to sell yourself? That is acceptable: it is, after all, “your deal.”

The great trick of democracy is to fool folks into thinking every step into servitude is a deal negotiated by one’s own dear self, when it is almost always not the case. “Participation” or voice is key to the trick. By being “part of the process,” one accepts each outcome as part of democracy’s basic deal, even if one initially opposed the program leading to one’s own subjugation.

And, indeed, losers in democratic contests are routinely chided for being “poor losers,” bad citizens, or worse, criminals.

Thus the hierarchies of the Last Men.

The ceremonial mountings of the savannah mandrill seem more glorious to me, and yet you will find “progressives” who rest every part of their “freedom” in their “voice,” their mere participation in the system. I cannot imagine a more dangerous kind of fool.