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In the ancient economy, you worked because if you didn't, you starved to death. You weren't farming your own land, you were farming someone else's - and they inevitably took a piece of whatever you produced in the form of a tax or levy. The aristocracy owned the land, the slaves worked it. The aristocracy pursued and furthered mathematics, science and medicine...the slaves were mostly uneducated and lacking in culture.
In the modern economy, you work because if you don't, you will have to turn to homeless shelters and soup kitchens, or in slightly better circumstances, you might live rent free with a relative. Even if you could farm your own land and be self sufficient, there is still the problem of land taxes. The aristocracy runs the government, finds itself in the highest levels of the majority of organizations, and is free to pursue the arts and sciences on a level the working class often times can not. Upward class mobility exists, where in history it often did not...but the probability of it is slim.
Much of what we demand out of our governments is not met, or if it is met, it is not met well. There is "public" education, but the best education is private. It is expected that a person seeking to enter into the aristocracy, whom does not display a rare, natural talent in some art or field, agree to take on debt equivalent to anywhere between the cost of a vehicle, to the cost of a house and tract of land. This debt must be taken without guarantee, which makes it, in essence, a system of gambling in which some born into poor and working classes will "win" the game...but most will lose. A functional society can only sustain a certain number of aristocrats among its ranks, whereas it, in general, can sustain an unlimited amount of laborers, service-people, and tradesmen. This justifies the game, at least from the perspective of the aristocrats.
The military, much like in history, serves as another method by which the poor may "win" the game and enter into a more aristocratic lifestyle...however it comes at cost. Risk of life and limb, service in the name of interests and desires of a class fundamentally different than the poor man, and the taint of human blood sacrifice. The military provides early retirement, if you survive, and a pension to live off of thereafter.
In the modern economy, you work because if you don't, you will have to turn to homeless shelters and soup kitchens, or in slightly better circumstances, you might live rent free with a relative. Even if you could farm your own land and be self sufficient, there is still the problem of land taxes. The aristocracy runs the government, finds itself in the highest levels of the majority of organizations, and is free to pursue the arts and sciences on a level the working class often times can not. Upward class mobility exists, where in history it often did not...but the probability of it is slim.
Much of what we demand out of our governments is not met, or if it is met, it is not met well. There is "public" education, but the best education is private. It is expected that a person seeking to enter into the aristocracy, whom does not display a rare, natural talent in some art or field, agree to take on debt equivalent to anywhere between the cost of a vehicle, to the cost of a house and tract of land. This debt must be taken without guarantee, which makes it, in essence, a system of gambling in which some born into poor and working classes will "win" the game...but most will lose. A functional society can only sustain a certain number of aristocrats among its ranks, whereas it, in general, can sustain an unlimited amount of laborers, service-people, and tradesmen. This justifies the game, at least from the perspective of the aristocrats.
The military, much like in history, serves as another method by which the poor may "win" the game and enter into a more aristocratic lifestyle...however it comes at cost. Risk of life and limb, service in the name of interests and desires of a class fundamentally different than the poor man, and the taint of human blood sacrifice. The military provides early retirement, if you survive, and a pension to live off of thereafter.
