Modern governments would like us to think we have freedom and can reach prosperity independently of appeasement of ruling authorities, though alternating frequently.
Feudal states of medieval era involved great supplication to the ruling monarchies, explicitly, and vassal states with taxes. However, when we pay our taxes, we do not see it as a way of appeasing a monarch but as a social contract or norm in which we live, a type of chore perhaps.
Success, more so than ever, now is truly a matter of pleasing, supplicating, for those who do and only those who do gain prosperity.
Where is the monarch within our democracy? Go find him and seek his favoritism, or else try to become the one from whom others must seek favor.