What do hitting a tennis ball and a heartbeat have in common?

They both make objects go through mediums using much force.

Explanation:

For example, hitting a tennis ball makes the tennis ball (object), go through the air (medium) from you swinging your arm (force).

Your heartbeat carries oxygenated blood (object) away from the heart in arteries (medium) using the great force of the heart valves (force).

what have fossils ever done for you

you did not attach the discourse, but i assume it to be the discourse on the origin and basis of inequality among men (the original titile in french is: "discours sur l'origine et les fondements de l'inégalité parmi les hommes"), also know as "second discourse". in this discourse, jean-jacques rousseau emphasizes that private property is the basis of all inequalities.

therefore, what enabled the old regime to maintain as long as it did was private property.