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From Ruling Class to Oligarchy
https://amgreatness.com ^ | November 20, 2020 | Angelo Codevilla

Posted on 11/22/2020 5:28:57 AM PST by NKP_Vet

By its campaign and conduct of the 2020 election, the ruling class ceased pretending to be part of a constitutional republic. By treating fellow Americans as inferiors through word and deed, its members renounced their common citizenship with us. Eschewing persuasion, they set about compelling obedience to an openly manipulated election.

Thus did they burn their bridges to the rest of America as surely as did Hernán Cortéz when he burned the ships that had carried his troops to conquer the Aztec empire. Henceforth, they must rule or ruin as the oligarchy they have become.

For four decades beginning in the mid-1960s, a class of rulers grew in America. They became ever more uniform socially and intellectually, ever more opposed to the rest of Americans, and ever more powerful. This happened as government took upon itself the tasks of eliminating poverty and harmonizing the races, and as it controlled ever greater shares of the national income.

Increasingly, their powers were based on claims of expertise coming from the universities. These underwent a fourfold increase in size (from 9 percent of Americans with four-year degrees in 1965 to 36 percent in 2015). Their connection with government conferred both wealth and additional prestige. Few paid attention to President Eisenhower’s warning about the connection between government and academic elites.

(Excerpt) Read more at amgreatness.com ...


TOPICS: Government; History; Politics; Society
KEYWORDS:
“Roughly half the country is living under an alien regime that means to harm us socially, politically, and economically.”
1 posted on 11/22/2020 5:28:57 AM PST by NKP_Vet
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To: NKP_Vet

bttt


2 posted on 11/22/2020 5:31:09 AM PST by Pajamajan ( PRAY FOR OUR NATION. I will never be a peaceful slave to a Socialist new America.)
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To: NKP_Vet

Time to stop paying taxes and starve the beast....

Wishful thinking


3 posted on 11/22/2020 5:32:17 AM PST by gattaca ("Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives." Ronald Reagan)
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To: gattaca

>>Time to stop paying taxes and starve the beast.<<

lol...yea, no. They’ve got us by the gonads and they know it.


4 posted on 11/22/2020 5:42:40 AM PST by servantboy777
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To: gattaca

>>Time to stop paying taxes and starve the beast.<<

lol...yea, no. They’ve got us by the gonads and they know it.


5 posted on 11/22/2020 5:42:40 AM PST by servantboy777
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To: NKP_Vet

GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT! Come Back With A Warrant! Buffalo Biz Owner Takes On The COVID Cops.

[Patriots push back!]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyL9YHhOkU8&ab_channel=TheSheridanFiles


6 posted on 11/22/2020 5:52:34 AM PST by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: sauropod

.


7 posted on 11/22/2020 6:08:39 AM PST by sauropod (Let them eat kale. I will not comply. Sic semper evello mortem tyrannis. This is how Democracy dies.)
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To: Travis McGee

GOOD ONE.


8 posted on 11/22/2020 6:14:17 AM PST by GailA (TRUMP IS A GUTSY PRESIDENT)
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To: NKP_Vet

Is this the fate of all Republics: The government actually becomes a terminal cancer that destroys the Republic?


9 posted on 11/22/2020 6:16:43 AM PST by antidemoncrat (Biden's )
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To: antidemoncrat

By definition republics are divisible.


10 posted on 11/22/2020 6:17:27 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: servantboy777; gattaca

yea, no
_________________

In the 1970s, a portion of the anti-war left successfully withheld taxes as a protest against war.

1) They established legal escrow funds, using attorneys who agreed with them and understood the system.

2) They calculated what percentage of their taxes would be utilized to fund war and they withheld that percentage within the escrow fund.

3) Perhaps some people were punished or fined, but I never heard of such a reaction.

4) The person I know for sure who did this became CFO of a very large and successful corporation, was paid handsomely, and sat on their Board after retirement. This individual is now over 80.

5) I do not know the eventual disposition of the escrow fund. (I assume the attorney managed to get paid).

I’d be interested in knowing how this worked then and how it could work now.

Schools are closed or operate at a lower rate of utilization for a limited number of days per year. The employees are still paid and receive benefits. The percentage of property taxes funding schools is known. That is the first portion of tax a strike could target. A voucher system would return control to parents and less tax would be required.

Income tax can be manipulated by limiting income. With the majority of venues that consume discretionary income closed and with the advent of work from home, most people could afford to limit their income, especially if one added in the portion of property tax dedicated to schools. With reduced travel for work or leisure, transportation infrastructure should require less money for maintenance. This impacts all sorts of taxes, like that on gasoline that could be eliminated or withheld. Note that the World Bank advocated a 5% work-from-home tax, so they are already looking ahead and trying to be proactive in retaining their taxing authority.

Interstate commerce isn’t subject to sales taxes if the seller has no physical presence in the buyer’s state. Buying by mail could be impacted if people actively avoided large retailers, like Amazon, when ordering.

Some states already do not tax food or clothing. This could be expanded through the support of sympathetic legislators.and regulators.

Why not take back control? If the progs can advocate defunding police, why can’t people defund the state?


11 posted on 11/22/2020 6:29:00 AM PST by reformedliberal (Make yourself less available.)
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To: NKP_Vet
Giverment is their religion and abortion is their sacrament.
12 posted on 11/22/2020 6:31:12 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: servantboy777

Taxes are just punitive. They print what they want now.


13 posted on 11/22/2020 6:32:09 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: servantboy777

Who is their point man? Who gives their nonsense cover?

LEFTIST media. They should be the first target.

Cancel cable tv; stream so you can choose the channels you support
Avoid big tech social media; use alternatives
Avoid national name brands where possible; go generic/local


14 posted on 11/22/2020 7:53:04 AM PST by joshua c (President Elect joshua_c. Hey if Joe can do it.)
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To: NKP_Vet

Read later.


15 posted on 11/22/2020 8:43:51 PM PST by NetAddicted (Just looking)
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