The current aristocracy in America came to power in the 1960's. It was a major shift in the power elite, away from the military, captains of industry, and religious leaders. It became heavily concentrated in media elites, educators, bureaucrats and lawyers. It was a deliberate infiltration of institutions and the seizure of power from the people and the states; concentrating it in unelected and unaccountable institutions.
The rise of network TV, the fairness doctrine imposed by the FCC, and the takeover of virtually all national media by doctrinaire "progressives" meant that the "progressive" gatekeepers in the media decided who could be nominated, who could win elections, what issues were important and what were not. The "progressives" decided what candidates were acceptable for the Supreme Court.
The aristocracy had shifted from a limited government with a "military industrial complex" to an unlimited "government/media/bureaucracy" complex. The new grouping held the military in contempt. The core of its ideology disdained Christianity, limited government, "consent of the governed", honor, truth, and accountability. The most desirable things in its value system were celebrity, unaccountable and unlimited sex, wealth and political power.
Lyndon Johnson passed the Johnson Amendment in 1954, to stop political activity by churches and clergy. The law has always been selectively enforced, and the effect has been to restrain and reduce the power of conservative religious leaders.
The new aristocracy exploited flaws in the existing system to extend and enhance their power. Severe pollution existed. Racism existed. Southern Blacks were denied the vote. New birth control technologies and improved household technologies freed women from their traditional roles as mothers and homemakers.
The shift occurred in a myriad of incremental ways. Tort lawyers completely rewrote the law of liability, so that anyone remotely connected with an event could be sued in court and held to damages, for things that had long been held outside of the civil litigation system. Lawsuits become encouraged instead of discouraged. This transferred enormous power to lawyers.
The EPA was created and given power far beyond anything required to control pollution. They were essentially given the power to determine land use over most of the United States. Women were taught to despise men and motherhood.
The takeover of the institutes of higher education by doctrinaire "progressives" was completed by the early 80's.
The new aristocracy saw populations as problems to be managed rather than as participants sharing in power. The immigration policy, set in 1965, became a way to change the demographics to a more easily controlled population. Consider that the same people who exhort American women to have few or no children, insist on unlimited illegal immigration.
Ronald Reagan managed to slow the advancement of the new aristocracy for a decade. He did it by organizing his campaign with the recognition that the media was his principle opponent. The rebuilding of the military and the defeat of the Soviet Empire were significant setbacks to the "progressive" elite. But the amnesty for illegal aliens, and the inability to enforce the the immigration law as part of the compromise that Reagan negotiated, renewed their power. California became reliably "progressive".
In a mildly satirical essay that I wrote three years ago, I concluded that the "new nobility" consisted of tenured academics, lawyers, police officers, the politically active rich, politicians, members of the media, and combinations of the above. I explicitly left out most military officers. I concluded the exclusion of the military was a mistake of the new aristocracy, and that they would be wise to include military officers in their structure.
The new aristocracy has moved in the opposite direction. Members of the military are less accepted in the new nobility than they were before. The movement during the Obama administration has been to exclude police officers. Both of these are grave mistakes for a ruling class.
Donald Trump is leading a revolution to reorder the American ruling class and to return a share of political power to Americans suffering under the policies of the new aristocracy. Controlling pollution has morphed into control of everyday life and all industry, based on non-falsifiable fears 50 years in the future. Equal treatment under the law has morphed into explicit discrimination against white and Asian men. The desire for a more politically compliant population is built on the disadvantage of the existing population.
The revolution became possible because of the removal of the "fairness doctrine" by the Reagan administration, and by the technological advances that have been decentralizing the media.
The removal of the fairness doctrine and the rise of the Internet have severely weakened the oligopoly of media control. The media elite are no longer the near omnipotent gatekeepers of information that they were by the early 1970's, when they deposed an incumbent president.
Trump is creating a new coalition by appealing to the military, which has been reeling under the attacks of the Obama administration on its culture, ethics, and funding. He appeals to the police, who have been scapegoated as evil racists and murderers by the current aristocracy. Trump says he will stop the uncontrolled immigration that has been transferring more and more power to the new aristocracy for 50 years.
Trump is appealing to industry by promising to reduce the power of regulations that have little practical effect except to increase political power and turn competition into crony capitalism. He plans to replace the political incentives that drive industry overseas with incentives to bring companies and their capital back.
He has threatened to reign in the power of the EPA. He said he will push for restoration of free speech to churches. He promises accountability. He endorses limits on government with his support for the Second Amendment and a list of Supreme Court appointees that take the Constitution seriously.
All of these moves take increments of power from the central government. He promises an administration where elections can make a difference in the direction of the country. Trump has become the champion of people who want to have control over the flood of legislation that impacts their lives. People who want to stop the blatant corruption they see in the new aristocracy; corruption that has been exposed in the new media.
We will not know until November if this new coalition can effect a bloodless revolution. No aristocracy gives up power easily. But the American electoral system was designed to effect bloodless exchanges of power. It has been short-circuited by the utter domination in the media and academia of "progressive" ideology. It has become clear that the current aristocracy has no allegiance to the American military, to the American police, or to the American people.
This election has become, in effect, a contest between whether the sovereign power will be the government/media/bureaucracy complex, or the people, in a system of limited governmental powers.
©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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