In days or yore the King gave land and access to the Court to the Lords in exchange for loyalty and the obligation to muster troops in the event of war. The land and the agreement were the Lords Fief.

In turn the Lords granted temporary possession of the land to Vassals in exchange for their loyalty and their promise to provide military service when required. The land and the agreement were the Vassals Fief.

There are remnants today. Where there are warlords it looks like a traditional feudalism where land is the essential fief. Where there are gangs it looks like feudalism where the fief is urban turf and many of the underground activities of that turf. And where there is corporate power and influence I see a King and Courtiers in our capitol who grant fiefs to exploit national resources, natural and human, in exchange for loyalty and the obligation to contract for the work of wars. Then the Corporation grants jobs and benefits as fief to its own Vassals—we who work. We declare America a corporate fiefdom; all other nations are triangulations of corporate fiefdom, warlordism, and gangsterism.

“You can tell a lot about a culture by the lies it embraces.” John Leland