Since Civilization has existed so has Aristocracy. The term means "rule by the best", but that has nearly always meant in reality "rule by blood", to put it another way Aristocracy is passed from father to son. What it has rarely meant is "rule by experts".
The role of the Aristocracy was to rule and fight, to administrate areas, to keep the peace and to raise armies and lead them in time of war. In a Medieval Kingdom there were three great centres of power. The King and his court who ruled the Kingdom and dealt with foreign affairs, the Church who provided legitimacy as well as spiritual and temporal advise and last but not least the Aristocracy. But over time that changed, consider the position of the Aristocracy in 1215 and then compare it to 1715. In 1215 the Aristocracy had both power and the King needed them, by 1715 the Aristocracy is docile and while many people didn't know it they were no longer needed, like the Church. In 1215 both had real power because they did things that no King could achieve by themselves. By 1715 the King was much more powerful and his government did the jobs that the Aristocracy had done before.
That power would in time come with a price, in time the Kings would be replaced by the bureaucracy that they had used to destroy the power of the Aristocracy and the Church. Which in turn lead to the idea that we could have an Aristocracy made up of experts. An idea that is also called meritocracy.
However heredity Aristocracy has a number of advantages that experts do not have. 1) long term thinking 2) long term high IQ 3) long term relationships 4) training
Long term thinking has nearly vanished from the world, why? Because the current rulers of the world don't believe in the future. However if you believe your family has to plan for centuries then you see the world in a different light. You see your country and your people in a different light. We need that!
Long term high IQ is very important, there is an idea spread by Liberalism and other malcontents that the Aristocracy were all inbred morons. But how do you think these "inbred morons" managed to remain in charge for centuries? In reality they were not morons, but high IQ families and we know that because they helped create Western civilization at it's best. They conquered the world and took it's art to the very highest standards. And they did it for centuries, not for a decade or two, low IQ people don't do that because they can't.
Long term relationships can only be built over a long time. It means that there is institutional knowledge built into families and the organisation that serves them. It means that long term plans can be made and stuck to, it means that reputation is not just for today and that your actions good and bad matter.
Training is also required, Aristocrats are not simply born to rule they are also trained to rule. This aspect is often neglected, but Kings and Aristocrats are trained from a very young age for the day when they will be required to take up their duties. And they are not all trained alike, however they are trained to have a broad knowledge on a range of subjects.
So if all that is true why aren't we still ruled by Aristocrats?
Because over time they ceased to provide the necessary glue that bound the Kingdom together. Instead they allowed the King to have his own bureaucracy and they went into business instead of remaining in their true position as part of the government. Proof that people do not always do what is in their best interest and that no system is without fault. The purpose of the Aristocracy was to rule, when they ceased that role they ceased to have purpose.
The rule of experts is in reality no such thing, it is instead the ruler of the short term ignorant thinker. An expert in aviation is an expert in aviation, however he is probably not an expert on energy policy, defence or healthcare or on any other topic and the reason is because he trained to ignorant. An expert by definition knows a lot about a very narrow area of knowledge. And he has no skin in the game, he will not be here in 50 years time and by then it is likely that he will be known only to a specialist in his field. How can he develop long term plans when he has neither the ability nor incentive to?
Another argument against the Aristocracy is why shouldn't people of lesser birth but great IQ be allowed to rule. But if you look at the famous people of the past you will notice that many, even most are not Aristocrats. People of high IQ will always be needed and employed. I know some people think "But I should be the leader of my country", no matter how small that ability.
At some point in the future we will need to rebuild an Aristocracy and the reason is that we need to return to long term thinking. Democracy does not allow for it and to be honest nor does any other form of republican government. Short term thinking is the thinking of the looter, "I had better loot that store before anyone else does!". But instead of a single store it is our entire civilization that is being looted.
Only Kings and Aristocrats have the luxury to think long term.
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There used to be [now voluntarily retired] an Internet web site called the Mad Monarchist. The MM made the amazing and probably true assertion that you gout ABOUT the same degree of governance from a king as you probably get under similar societal circumstances from an elected democratic government [republic]. Not so much worse and not so much better. About the same. I think there is some validity to that argument.
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