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America's Ruling Class -- And the Perils of Revolution
American Spectator ^ | Angelo M. Codevilla

Posted on 07/16/2010 4:35:54 AM PDT by rellimpank

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."

(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 10thamendment; class; codevilla; cwii; cwiiping; revwarii; rinos; ruling; rulingclass; washington
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To: DarthVader

......Our leaders today are very much like the French aristocrats of 1788......

That is a very interesting thought. I will need to think on it before totally agreeing.

The main problem I see with it is our cities. They have degenerated into bastions of the recipients of the governmental largess. They will not revolt as long as the bread is given for free.

At present, they have not only bread, but cake as well


201 posted on 07/27/2010 5:59:19 AM PDT by bert (K.E. N.P. N.C. +12 ..... The winds of war are freshening)
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To: Avoiding_Sulla; BobS

You also have the debacle with younger brother Neil???

http://www.allbusiness.com/personal-finance/real-estate-mortgage-loans/282011-1.html


202 posted on 07/27/2010 6:05:18 AM PDT by danamco (")
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To: RipSawyer; Avoiding_Sulla

From Lee Iacocca’s book: “Where Have All The Leaders Gone?”, he writes, quote: “Am I the only guy in this country who’s fed up with what’s happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We’ve got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we’ve got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can’t even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. Bur instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, ‘Stay the course.’, unquote!!!

Now with have an oil spill instead of a hurricane, hmmm???


203 posted on 07/27/2010 6:19:18 AM PDT by danamco (")
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To: danamco; Borax Queen

Palin dug her own grave.


204 posted on 07/27/2010 6:59:53 AM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (Support our Troops, and vote out the RINOS!)
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To: Avoiding_Sulla; NFHale; stephenjohnbanker; mo; sickoflibs; rabscuttle385; mkjessup; DoughtyOne; ...

“A Statist Republican politician displays more anger and hostility toward a conservative member of the GOP than he’d ever display to even a radical Dem colleague.

Think outside the box. What will cause a Statist Republican to unravel entirely?

Republican Traitors.........keep it simple


205 posted on 07/27/2010 7:04:29 AM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (Support our Troops, and vote out the RINOS!)
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To: rellimpank

bttt


206 posted on 07/28/2010 1:45:27 AM PDT by Jim W N
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To: danamco; tbw2; Leisler; Avoiding_Sulla; stephenjohnbanker; mo; sickoflibs; rabscuttle385; ...
"...I feel the the WWII heroes (”The Greatest Generation”) came home and spoiled their kids rottenly to be the sixties brats and hippies..." You know, I used to believe that as well; being the son of a WWII Airborne combat vet who was wounded during the Ardennes, came home from the war, worked his ass off, and died very young, I always wondered what the hell happened. My oldest sister (b. 1952) was one of those hippie flower children, and still is very liberal to this day (although recovering...albeit slowy) and I NEVER figured out where that came from. After doing a lot of research over the years, though, I've changed my thoughts on it... Maybe "spoiled rotten" isn't the right word. I think is was more like lack of attention to what was really going on with the people who were teaching their children - in school, in music, and in the culture at large. We had a Marxist cultural revolution going on, right under folks' noses. I think these American men of that generation were just working their asses off and trusting in "the system" to teach their kids the way THEY were taught back in the day - you know, to be good American citizens, to love their country the way THEY loved their country, and become something more than they ever had a chance to become. To want and live the American Dream and have a shot at "the Good Life" - something that the Great Depression had deprived the vast majority of them of and shaped their thinking. I seriously don't think they counted on the tenacity and the depth of the American Communist Insurgency that was going on - and it was AIMED directly at their kids - NOT at them. The left KNEW that these guys could and would destroy them in a heartbeat if the opportunity presented itself. They're busy trying to rebuild lives, earn a living, support the family - all the things we do every day that direct ua away from political machinations and intrigue; they sent their kids to school, not realizing WHO was now teaching their kids, and WHAT they were teaching them. If there is blame/fault to be laid, maybe it's just that they were too trusting in a system that was being slowly and deliberately undermined from within, while they were fighting a different manifestation of it overseas. I have to believe, however, that the folks of those days KNEW what FDRoosevelt was and who he associated with; if I'm not mistaken, his first VP, Henry Wallace, was a dedicated socialist (communist), his aide ALger Hiss was another one, and he surrounded himself with these people as well. But the prevailing attitude was "Hey, they're Democrats...they're for Us Little Guys... they're AMERICANS, like us!" You can see it now, to this day, in the elder folks who STILL pull the D lever without a moment's hesitation. The Dems have been complicit in this for a very long time, and they were/are never, ever held accountable. Maybe someday, they'll have a "Day of Reckoning" when the people of this country wake up and see exactly the traitorous, seditious manner in which these people have behaved. One can "hope", after all.... My old man was a great, proud American patriot, full of lots of little holes from Krupp-made steel splinters and full of love for God, his country, his family, and his flag. I remember him waking in the morning, going to work, then coming home briefly to eat before to going to his SECOND job. He died young from complications due to stroke. Just my thoughts on it.
207 posted on 07/28/2010 9:10:58 AM PDT by NFHale (The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)
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To: NFHale; All

All:

Sorry for the run-on paragraph in my post above...don’t know why it displayed this way.


208 posted on 07/28/2010 9:12:58 AM PDT by NFHale (The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)
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To: NFHale

Don’t worry, and thank you for these thoughts of yours!

I live five years under Hitler’s tyranny 1940-45 and over there FDR was put on a pedestal as the savior of the world, regardless Churchill wanted to finish off the Soviet Union!!

Defectors has said that it was their intentions to take down the U.S. from within. Lenin said if you can control the education and the press that’s the key to rule the people, and we are seeing it creeping along openly after our devastating 2008 election!!!


209 posted on 07/28/2010 12:14:02 PM PDT by danamco (")
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To: danamco

“...I live five years under Hitler’s tyranny 1940-45 ...”

I so very sorry to hear that. Glad you made it to America.

“...over there FDR was put on a pedestal as the savior of the world...”

Once again, if people knew what he was involved with, he wouldn’t be so glorious.

“..we are seeing it creeping along openly...”

Don’t worry - as bad as it looks, there are STILL enough American Patriots to put things right.

God is on our side, brother.


210 posted on 07/28/2010 3:23:30 PM PDT by NFHale (The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)
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To: NFHale

B U M P


211 posted on 07/28/2010 7:38:44 PM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (.)
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To: rellimpank

Excellent article. I’ve printed it, and I’m sending the link to others as well.


212 posted on 07/30/2010 10:24:21 AM PDT by LucyJo
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To: rellimpank
I just came across your post of this article today (better late than never). It's an excellent read.

One paragraph about which I'd like to comment:

America's problems would be fixed by a "brain trust" (picked by him {FDR}). His New Deal's solutions -- the alphabet-soup "independent" agencies that have run America ever since -- turned many Progressives into powerful bureaucrats and then into lobbyists. As the saying goes, they came to Washington to do good, and stayed to do well.

We tend to think of lobbyists as advocates of a private sector or non-profit. But you seldom hear of what I'll call the "Silent Lobby" - all the millions of bureaucrats. Government-run programs control trillions of dollars, and they are all concentrated in one industry: Government. You can bet they exert a tremendous political influence - ironically, based on their own self-interest rather then that of the public they purport to serve.

213 posted on 07/31/2010 5:38:20 AM PDT by P.O.E. (Compact Theory)
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To: P.O.E.

OMG - I just realized I read this piece two weeks ago! Guess I spent too much time in the sun over vacation.


214 posted on 07/31/2010 5:41:00 AM PDT by P.O.E. (Compact Theory)
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To: rellimpank

Bump :)


215 posted on 09/15/2010 6:51:20 AM PDT by mewzilla (Still voteless in NY-29. Over 400 roll call votes missed and counting...)
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To: rellimpank

The secrets of the ruling class have been exposed. To think of how many years they have spent sowing the seeds of division and hatred amongst the masses. The racial hatred, class hatred etc. All of this done and couched in righteousness. It was all a plan to save their own necks.

The truth is they are terrified, as they should be, that if we all got together we would come for them.

The ruling class are the haters, the selfish, the arrogant, and the immoral.

We need to go after them and see to it that their evil plans are stopped.

They must pay.


216 posted on 09/15/2010 7:28:35 AM PDT by dforest
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To: Da Coyote

The guillotine is too slow we will need machine guns at least.


217 posted on 09/28/2010 8:29:01 PM PDT by RipSawyer (Clem Hussein Kadiddlehopper would be a vast improvement.)
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To: mewzilla

BTTT.


218 posted on 10/11/2011 1:00:46 PM PDT by mewzilla (Forget a third party. We need a second one.)
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To: mewzilla
Agreed, and thank you. I'd forgotten to read this one.
219 posted on 11/10/2011 4:15:54 PM PST by Carry_Okie (GunWalker: Arming "a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as well funded")
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