Tao Te Ching 75

If the people are starving
   it's because their rulers
      are stealing their food [throu taxes].

If the people are revolting
   it's because their rulers
      are making their lives impossible.

If the people are dying
   it's because their rulers
      are sacrificing them for their own ambitions.

      If the people's lives are unendurable
   then they who choose to die
are nobler than they who cling to life.