But be Lenin as he may, whether Sally does Solly or Solly does Sally, whether power is inherited, autocratic, bureaucratic, meritocratic, kleptocratic, democratically legitimated, divinely ordained or obtained by gross bodily harm, power is forever both ephemeral and shared. In war, as in peace, all governments share power; and they all pray endlessly that it lasts until tomorrow, just as an atheistic Karoo farmer prays for rain. When shall come the storm? The question “when?” destroys politics just as it destroys economics. What is the time horizon? All power rots; all money rots. All we need ask is “when?”
