Just enough time to get comfortable

Sabbatical years mimic in the economic sphere what democracy looks like in the political sphere. The point of holding elections is to subject the power-holders to regular interruption to their regime. Elections are meant to weaken the advantage of incumbency. That objective is likewise the point of the sabbatical year. It breaks the momentum of economic incumbency. It suspends impoverishment and endebtedness and delivers into the hands of the dis-empowered the prerogatives of rulership, if even for only a moment.