Posted on 09/06/2013 1:13:26 AM PDT by neverdem
It has been said a number of times in recent years that the U.S. is undergoing a period of flux, a state of rapid churning on the political-social level with any number contradictory trends appearing and vanishing while few permanent changes are evident. After 2013, this may no longer be the case. Events of this past summer indicate that a new political paradigm is settling in -- one in no way friendly toward American life as we now understand it.
This new system was outlined by Dr. Angelo Codevilla in his 2010 book, The Ruling Class. Codevilla saw clear signs of the formation of a ruling elite in the U.S., a convergence of interests among both "liberal" and "conservative" politicians, along with industrialists, academics, and members of the entertainment and media worlds. It has become expedient for these blocs to combine their efforts in order to protect and extend their own interests, even in defiance of the American political system and secular creed as it has always existed. Opposing this effort is the "country class," the vast mass of Americans, essentially the middle class (to be American is, in a real sense, to be middle class), who have invested their lives in the traditional state of the country and expect to see it remain as it is. These past months present us with clear evidence that the Codevillian ruling class is beginning to take shape.
(A major influence of Codevilla's thinking is James Burnham, particularly his The Managerial Revolution, which discovered basic similarities in the attitudes and procedures of communism, fascism, and New Deal liberalism. Burnham, a onetime Trotskyite who played a large role in the founding and development of the National Review, predicted a grim postwar world in which these ideologies converged and melded to rule what was left...)
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Sublime yet gaseous... nonetheless, contraction is in order.
Sit back and watch the elites crush what remains of our liberty?
An Article V convention of the states is only alternative.
Good article. He's got rubio pegged.
We desperately need term limits to stop the John McCains and Lindsay Grahams from becoming corruptpowet brokers for profit that care little if any for the people they supposely represent.
I know what you mean, but the best argument against the VALUE of term limits is Kelly Ayotte and Marco Rubio, Tea Party candidates that have been busts. I guess what I’m saying is that I don’t have a lot of faith that even our side can accurately judge character.
> I know what you mean, but the best argument against the VALUE of term limits is Kelly Ayotte and Marco Rubio, Tea Party candidates that have been busts. I guess what I’m saying is that I don’t have a lot of faith that even our side can accurately judge character.
maybe not with 100 % accuracy but wisdom, discernment, and experience carry a lot of weight in that regard. One of the complicating factors is that people can change by being corrupted by power and influence over time. That’s the reason term limits are needed now that we’ve seen the consequences of politicians that have dug in and set themselves up with a very cushy lifestyle with all the trappings of power from being corupted by selling political favors and engaging in and under table deals. Years ago I worked on a case where I saw exactly how the process worked and it left a bad taste in my mouth. A guy was couriering money back and forth for special interest groups so that the politicians were paid cash and it didn’t appear in their bank acounts and raise questions.
What the American people don’t seem to undestand is that
politicians don’t work on the same moral mantle as normal folks. They have no remorse sending your kids off to war to oust a dictator who blocks a one oftheir political allies from laying pipelines with them so they can get get their back pockets stuffed. Wake up, people!
These elites have dominated the world for centuries; they have always kept people down. We’re just one of the last hold-outs, and that is quickly being quashed in front of our own eyes.
We will have something to say in the 2014 midterms. We are going to un-employ some of these traitors.
In addition, term limits have another insidious result that elevates the importance and influence of bureaucratic apparatchiks to an even greater level of power and influence. Because of their unionized status, they are almost impossible to remove. These pigs are second in line at the public trough, and operate with near-impunity.
We know who the power brokers are who prevent the newly elected from
doing what they promised their electorate. Boehner is on top of that list.
Term limits have been disaterous for conservatives in california. We have a one party state.
Thanks for posting.
bfl
Who is this? JEdger? Big Sis?
In my experience, the unification of elite opinion can lead the opposition to become more united and energized and the public more suspicious. Meanwhile, the elite turns arrogant and unwilling as a body to make a strong, consistent effort toward their goal.
In effect, among the elite, the assumption becomes that the project or position is so widely supported and has the backing of elite opinion makers and power players, so why make any individual sacrifice or effort on its behalf?
In that manner, the elite's preference acquires an air of inertia and lethargy. Gradually, many of the elite avoid involvement because the benefit to them individually is inadequate. Some even slip into opposition.
This process is not always evident from the outside. Despite the immense power of the Soviet Union and its client states in Eastern Europe, over decades, decay and disaffection set in, leading to the rapid dissolution of virtually the entire Soviet bloc. By the time the Communist elite recognized the danger, it was too late.
I think the latent dynamic by which elites that govern badly or wrongly are defeated is especially strong in the American context, with the Internet and social media now offering greater opportunities to opponents of the elite, both on specific issues and as to the elite's tenure in power. As dismal as so much is in American politics today, we should have hope and embrace the rebel's joy of struggle against the odds.
This is a very important point. That is why, when I’m elected Dictator of America, my first act will be to pass a law limiting ALL representatives (and senators) to TWO staffers only. They’ll have to answer their own damn calls and write their own damn legislation.
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