A quote from FDR via Mark Johnson's weblog...

For out of this modern civilization economic royalists carved new dynasties. New kingdoms were built upon concentration of control over material things.

From the Vistorian Age to the present it could be argued that dynasties were necessary to build the steel mills, shipping, the railroads, the telecommunications systems, and so on. Perhaps the benefits for society outweigh the cost of establishing the industrial dynasties.

But now we're in an age where extreme decentralization is at hand. It will be more of a challenge to get dynastical forces out of the way of progress than it will be to actually establish a decentralized age itself. Are dynasties necessary for societies to decentralize in the way they were necessary to centralize in the first place? I don't think so.

Dylan told the senators and congressmen not to stand in the doorways or block up the halls. The times are changing. Will the dynasties allow it? Will the people know enough to demand it?