Justice & Law Quote by David Korten

Korten writes like someone tired of watching polite language launder harsh outcomes. The sentence is built as a pressure test: if inequality keeps widening, institutions that reflexively protect wealth over people do not just become unfair, they become unbelievable. “Legitimacy” is the key word. He is not merely accusing courts, markets, or governments of being biased; he’s warning that the story they tell about themselves - neutral, rules-based, deserving of obedience - stops working when the rules consistently favor “the Haves.”

The framing pits “property rights” against “human rights” to force a moral hierarchy where the choice looks obscene. Property rights sound technical, even sterile; human rights are visceral. That contrast is the rhetorical move: make what’s often treated as an economic debate feel like an ethical emergency. By putting “the Haves” and “the Have Nots” in quotes, Korten signals these aren’t natural categories but political roles produced by policy, law, and power. The subtext: inequality isn’t a weather system; it’s engineered.

Context matters, too. Korten’s activism is steeped in critiques of neoliberal globalization, corporate influence, and a legal architecture that treats capital as sacred and labor as expendable. “Inevitably” isn’t prediction so much as a dare to the status quo: keep prioritizing assets over lives, and you invite backlash, noncompliance, and a crisis of consent. It’s a message aimed as much at institutional gatekeepers as at citizens: legitimacy is not permanent; it’s a renewable resource, and you can squander it.