When The Bear Becomes the Bee-Keeper

Franz Oppenheimer wrote a book called "The State" in which he defined the six-stage evolution of the state in society by the domination of one ethnic group by another. The two will eventually fuse, but Oppenheimer essentially believed that the principle cause of the State's existence was the subjugation of one people by another.

I wrote a short poem over the subject and but first here's a very brief outline of the stages.

Stage One: A group of people acts as a bear would to a bee-hive and invades another. Tyranny, rape, and pillage. They often return to the same group of people and pillage again.

Stage Two: The Bear becomes the Bee-Keeper. Dominates the hive for more money. A notion of right and wrong develops among the conquerors regarding the way in which they should treat the subjugated. Live subjects can produce more than dead.

Stage Three: Surpluses lead to more tribute-- Precursor to taxation.

Stage Four: Both ethnic groups become a union on one strip of land. Move from international to intranational relationship.

Stage Five: Conflicts between different peasants are put down by the leaders; leads to the court systems.

Stage Six: Interference in subjects' affairs increase. Stratification increases.

When The Bear Becomes The Bee-Keeper;

Wandering Herdsmen, out for a fight,

Come across a settled society at night,

And as the bear acts to the bee,

Or how the Viking acts on the Sea,

So these tyrants robbed and stole,

And became the great kings of old.

With authority established by the sword,

They rode to victory in monstrous hordes.

But a true nation did not come to be,

Until the tyrants came to see,

That a dead man cannot work the fields,

And an untended crop, little profit yields.

So the tyrant let the man stand and the tree grow,

Leaving him with his seeds to sow,

And let be the peaceful sleeper,

When the Bear became the Bee-Keeper.

So the notion of right and wrong,

Enter into our present song.

For what is good to the Peasant is profitable to the king.

"Praise to his Virtue," the Peasants sing.

When prosperity came to all,

And Gold decorated the tyrant's hall,

He made the Peasants feel accepted,

And their tribute was never rejected.

So the Law of the land was made,

By Methods no less cruel than De' Sade's.

The hegemons can stay or go anywhere,

But if they return, the land is theirs.

If a few rivalrous Peasants,

Make everyone else's day unpleasant,

With their quarreling amongst each other,

The tyrant must now be an elder brother,

And find a solution, equitable and fair.

To mend the dividing tear,

Which ripped its way so maliciously,

Into his people and their productivity.

By now the invaders have chosen to stay,

And have chosen women with whom to lay.

On this strip of land, they will build a new nation,

And secure domestic relations.

The Peasants now greet their captors,

Not as wolves, hawks, or raptors,

But as protectors of the realm,

And steersmen at the ship's great helm.

Leading softly, through the night,

As arbitrators of wrong and right.

"The State is all and we are none,"

They cry, as patiently, they await the sun.