The True Nature of Power — War and Peace

When many act together some expressed opinion will roughly match the outcome and retroactively look like command, as with men hauling a log. The talker gets credit; the hands do the work. Revolution and war acquire after-the-fact justifications like liberty or glory that clear moral responsibility like a snow broom before a locomotive. Historians treat fulfilled wishes as preceding commands, but events depend on masses; power is relation where more verbal justification means less direct participation. Nation movement comes from all participants combining so those with least hands-on share often hold most moral appearance of cause.