In some sense they have less power today than they ever had - imagine the outcry if some senator raped a commoner today. Compare that with what would have happened if a lord raped a peasant 800 years ago. It is likely that the peasant would have been killed for insulting the lord.
On the other hand, modern technology has done much to erode privacy for the common people and since information is power, some of the lost power has been returned to the rulers.
What is really exciting is the future - I am not at all convinced that the current nation states can survive in their present form when they loose the ability to tax their most productive citizens (since more and more work can be done overseas) as much as they have done and when something like bitcoin can and will be used to do transactions between people.
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In some sense they have less power today than they ever had - imagine the outcry if some senator raped a commoner today. Compare that with what would have happened if a lord raped a peasant 800 years ago. It is likely that the peasant would have been killed for insulting the lord.
On the other hand, modern technology has done much to erode privacy for the common people and since information is power, some of the lost power has been returned to the rulers.
What is really exciting is the future - I am not at all convinced that the current nation states can survive in their present form when they loose the ability to tax their most productive citizens (since more and more work can be done overseas) as much as they have done and when something like bitcoin can and will be used to do transactions between people.