4. On Unearned Gain:The Root Cause of All Regimes' Inevitable Demise

When an individual can obtain gains without labor, they will inevitably devise ways for their children to do the same. They may even extend this privilege to relatives, friends, acquaintances, and others connected to them. Through those who gain without labor, they perpetuate the cycle for their own offspring, creating an endless loop. Those who profit without effort proliferate like cancer cells within society. Moreover, those who gain without effort exploit their advantage to perpetually occupy the most advantageous positions within the social structure. Driven by self-interest, they will only continue to expand, impossible to eradicate until the social structure collapses, grinding them into the dust of history.

Parasitism is the cancer of society. It can be asserted that any nation failing to effectively curb parasitism will inevitably face collapse and decline. This was the fatal flaw leading to the downfall of all Chinese dynasties, and it remains the ultimate cause of collapse for all existing governments worldwide. No current regime—not even the most powerful, the United States—has effectively restrained parasitism.

When a dynasty is newly established, those initially able to live off others' labor are usually only a small handful of founding nobles and meritorious officials, comprising a very small proportion of the total population. Yet this small group of freeloaders enjoys the nation's finest resources and, with astonishing reproductive capacity, rapidly inflates the population of those living off others. As the proportion of freeloaders grows, the social structure gradually becomes unbalanced. In the early stages of a dynasty, perhaps 99 people supported one non-productive individual. At this point, the cancerous cells within society did not yet inflict suffering upon the populace, which is why people generally felt content during the dynasty's inception. By the dynasty's twilight, however, ten people might have to support ninety non-productive individuals. By this stage, the societal cancer had reached an irredeemable state, pushing the people to the brink of rebellion. Once a spark ignited, the dynasty inevitably collapsed. No ruler in a dynasty's twilight could avert its demise. Even replacing Emperor Chongzhen with the founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang would not have saved the Ming Dynasty. This is the inevitable reason for the collapse of every Chinese dynasty and why none surpassed 300 years. Given ancient productivity levels, the parasitic social cancer inevitably kills the dynasty as it nears its 300th year.

Whenever a regime permits individuals to legally and unrestrictedly enjoy privileges of unearned benefits, that regime inevitably collapses—a universal truth throughout history and across cultures.

The pursuit of unearned gains aligns with humanity's self-serving nature. Given the opportunity, most people (perhaps with the exception of saints) would unhesitatingly choose to enjoy such privileges. Regardless of one's role in society, once granted such privileges, self-interest will prevent voluntary relinquishment. Thus, government self-reform remains a myth—it contradicts humanity's self-serving nature.

For a regime to endure longer or achieve perpetual existence (assuming collapse can be avoided), institutional constraints on unearned privilege are essential. There are two approaches to restricting unearned gains: one is to limit the size of the population that benefits from them, ensuring their proportion remains consistently low; the other is to absolutely prohibit hereditary unearned gains, preventing the solidification of a privileged class and keeping the group in a state of flux. Only those who contribute to society should be able to benefit without working.

Why limit unearned privilege rather than eliminate it entirely? Because the essence of unearned privilege is exploitation, and exploitation is not inherently harmful to society—some forms of exploitation actually benefit social development. This viewpoint has been elaborated in the essay "On Exploitation."

To elaborate further: those who become the first generation of wealth through their own labor are typically contributors to society, and their exploitation of society is beneficial. However, those second-generation individuals who inherit family businesses and squander their parents' wealth are the cancer cells of society. The purpose of restricting unearned gains is to curb the expansion of such societal cancer cells, ensuring they remain within controllable limits. As long as a regime can keep these societal cancer cells within safe boundaries, theoretically, that regime can endure indefinitely.