America's Ruling Class

-- And the Perils of Revolution

by Angelo M. Codevilla - July 16th, 2010 - The American Spectator

As over-leveraged investment houses began to fail in September 2008, the leaders of the Republican and Democratic parties, of major corporations, and opinion leaders stretching from the National Review magazine (and the Wall Street Journal) on the right to the Nation magazine on the left, agreed that spending some $700 billion to buy the investors' "toxic assets" was the only alternative to the U.S. economy's "systemic collapse." In this, President George W. Bush and his would-be Republican successor John McCain agreed with the Democratic candidate, Barack Obama. Many, if not most, people around them also agreed upon the eventual commitment of some 10 trillion nonexistent dollars in ways unprecedented in America. They explained neither the difference between the assets' nominal and real values, nor precisely why letting the market find the latter would collapse America. The public objected immediately, by margins of three or four to one.

When this majority discovered that virtually no one in a position of power in either party or with a national voice would take their objections seriously, that decisions about their money were being made in bipartisan backroom deals with interested parties, and that the laws on these matters were being voted by people who had not read them, the term "political class" came into use. Then, after those in power changed their plans from buying toxic assets to buying up equity in banks and major industries but refused to explain why, when they reasserted their right to decide ad hoc on these and so many other matters, supposing them to be beyond the general public's understanding, the American people started referring to those in and around government as the "ruling class."

And in fact Republican and Democratic office holders and their retinues show a similar presumption to dominate and fewer differences in tastes, habits, opinions, and sources of income among one another than between both and the rest of the country. They think, look, and act as a class.

Ever wonder why Republicans are so much more frustrated with their elected officials than Democrats are with theirs? This article explains why.

Ever wonder why so many claim their is no difference between the leaders of our two main parties? This article explains why.

Ever wonder why so many corporate and Wall Street leaders are hard core Democrats and love big government? This article explains why.

Ever wonder why the Bush dynasty hates Ronald Reagan and has never embraced his libertarian principles? This article explains why.

Ever wonder why so many Republican leaders and their political consultants hate Sarah Palin? This article explains why.

Ever wonder why Democrats and some Republicans seem so determined to destroy our social contract, the Constitution? This article explains why.

This is a must read article for numerous reasons. However it is a very long article. It will only be read by those who truly love America, the land of the free. It will be viciously attacked by the ruling class and Democrat America, the land of welfare. It will also be attacked by Republican leadership that really wants followers, not self government.

I have noted the use of this term, ruling class, in several articles recently but did not truly embrace it until I read this article. On one level I now see just how perfectly it describes the evil that many Republicans have called RINOs. RINO was never an accurate or consistently applied term. It thus was useless. The ruling class term will now become a part of my personal observations on the evil of some politicians because it is so perfect, not just for my opposition to Democrats but my opposition to certain Republicans who embrace big government.

That said, as noted above, this article is a must read for many more reasons as well. On issue after issue citizen tolerance of a ruling class which tells us all how to live is the biggest problem in our nation.

The article also promotes another term, "country class", for those who oppose the "ruling class". It purports to describe those who believe in self government. I am not as enamored of this term because there is an earlier word which I believe describes proponents of self government even better. That word is American.