A 22-year-old asked why millions of people obey a tyrant who has no army of his own
Around 1553, French writer Étienne de La Boétie wrote that a tyrant's entire power rests on nothing but the willingness of the many to serve him: take away their cooperation, and he has no soldiers, wealth or throne. He argued people are kept in line less by force than by habit, spectacle, and small rewards handed to just enough collaborators to keep everyone else in check. His answer wasn't a call to arms but simply to stop consenting: withdraw your obedience, and tyranny collapses on its own.