On Longevity and Political Wisdom

Long-lived races are routinely presumed to produce wiser governments, and there is little evidence for this. Dwarves commonly live two and a half centuries, Aesir three and a half, and Elves approximately a millennium. All three have nevertheless produced incompetent ministers, disastrous monarchs, pointless wars, financial panics, succession crises, and public works projects whose principal function appears to have been enriching the minister’s brother. Longevity offers experience, and experience offers the opportunity to learn. These are not the same thing.

Indeed, unusually long lives create political problems Humans rarely appreciate. An ambitious Dwarven official may remain in office for a century. An Aesir clan dispute can survive long enough for everyone involved to remember personally how it began and still disagree about it. Elven property disputes occasionally involve contracts signed by both litigants before the grandparents of the presiding Human judge were born. One celebrated Elven lawsuit concerning rights to a riverside grove continued for one hundred and nineteen years, both original parties remaining alive throughout. At its conclusion they appealed.