America’s Ruling Class and the Perils of Revolution

There is a landmark article in the July/August 2010 issue of The American Spectator that deserves a lot of attention. Written by Angelo M. Codevilla, it is titled “America’s Ruling Class—And the Perils of Revolution.” Angelo Codevilla is a professor emeritus of international relations at Boston University.

It’s a lengthy article that would maybe print out to 22 pages single-spaced. Give yourself a healthy chunk of time to digest it—it’s deep.

In the article, the author tells the story of American political history through the prism of the paradigm he is teaching us. And that paradigm is that there is a ruling class of long-standing elites in our country. They are a minority who view themselves as entitled to rule. They inhabit the provinces of academia, the bureaucracy, elected officials, the media, and other positions of influence. Entrance to this ruling class is granted if you have the right views about things.

On the other side, you have members of what he calls the country class—the people who make the country work and who make up the majority.

He illustrates the clash between these classes with the issue of the Troubled Asset Relief Program that was enacted in late 2008.  The public, he says, objected immediately, by margins of three or four to one. But leaders of business and of both parties agreed upon the eventual commitment of some 10 trillion nonexistent dollars.

The majority in the country were frustrated by the failure of leaders to listen to them. Both parties moved ahead with TARP, the bailout of the auto companies, and other programs, none of which had the backing of the people.

After establishing this paradigm, he then goes on to examine American political history with it, showing how the ruling class has become more and more homogenous as time has gone on, and how much they have gotten their way. The ruling class want to expand government. Individual members only disagree about how fast that expansion should take place.

What he says explains so much. It explains why McCain is so eager to dredge up real or fancied misconduct by his conservative opponent for the Republican nomination for the US Senate, but insisted that no one in his campaign speak about Jeremiah Wright—that was off the table. He is trying to fortify his credentials as a member of the ruling class, and to do that you have to pander to the left and hate the right. It explains the politicians and public figures who are truly feared in American politics today. They are those people who refuse to play by the rules of the ruling class. People like Sarah Palin, who would stir things up terribly. Also Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, and others who are unafraid to attack the ruling class.

I recommend it. Click the link above and read it.

Please see the Liberty Musings website about conservative politics.

About mesasmiles

By Dr. David Hall. Dr. Hall runs Infinity Dental Web, a small company that does Internet marketing for dentists. He has had a long-standing interest in politics and as a college student toyed with the idea of a political career.
This entry was posted in Liberal Republicans, Limited Government, The Ruling Class and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.