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America's Ruling Class -- And the Perils of Revolution
Spectator.org ^ | July 2010 | Angelo M. Codevilla

Posted on 07/22/2010 10:45:27 AM PDT by 1st I.D Vet

Thought this article was worth reading.

Our ruling class's agenda is power for itself. While it stakes its claim through intellectual-moral pretense, it holds power by one of the oldest and most prosaic of means: patronage and promises thereof. Like left-wing parties always and everywhere, it is a "machine," that is, based on providing tangible rewards to its members. Such parties often provide rank-and-file activists with modest livelihoods and enhance mightily the upper levels' wealth. Because this is so, whatever else such parties might accomplish, they must feed the machine by transferring money or jobs or privileges -- civic as well as economic -- to the party's clients, directly or indirectly. This, incidentally, is close to Aristotle's view of democracy. Hence our ruling class's standard approach to any and all matters, its solution to any and all problems, is to increase the power of the government -- meaning of those who run it, meaning themselves, to profit those who pay with political support for privileged jobs, contracts, etc. Hence more power for the ruling class has been our ruling class's solution not just for economic downturns and social ills but also for hurricanes and tornadoes, global cooling and global warming. A priori, one might wonder whether enriching and empowering individuals of a certain kind can make Americans kinder and gentler, much less control the weather. But there can be no doubt that such power and money makes Americans ever more dependent on those who wield it. Let us now look at what this means in our time.

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


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: 10thamendment; codevilla; conservatives; cwiiping; lping; obama; pelosi; rulingclass; teaparty
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1 posted on 07/22/2010 10:45:30 AM PDT by 1st I.D Vet
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To: 1st I.D Vet

1) Please use original titles when posting an article.

2) This has already been posted several times, the first is at http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2553634/posts

3) Please be sure to fill in all info, I had to go to the link to get the author and the published date.


2 posted on 07/22/2010 10:50:14 AM PDT by Admin Moderator
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To: 1st I.D Vet

I don’t think there is going to be a revolution because men don’t have God and families to fight for any more.

McCain is going to be reelected and any new Republicans elected are going to be Feminists - just another name for Socialists.

The invasion from the south will continue until the United States of America is absorbed. The ruling class will continue to rule.


3 posted on 07/22/2010 11:10:48 AM PDT by donna (Pull over immediately and text your resignation.)
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To: donna
"I don’t think there is going to be a revolution because men don’t have God and families to fight for any more."

Men will fight for the one thing that allows them to HAVE their choice of GOD and to have Familes....

FREEDOM!


Maybe the men of America have been feminized to a point where it will take a lot more to motivate them to fight, however, Americans do not know how to NOT be free...and they won't like it at all.

McCain being re-elected, or not, doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of this thing called America...one man, one state.

It's about the PEOPLE...everyone keeps forgetting that! It NOT about the politicians, or the president...it's about the PEOPLE.

If you give up that easily, go ahead and order you a cotton sack to use in the cotton fields to pick the stuff...you'll need it.

Freedom


4 posted on 07/22/2010 11:19:10 AM PDT by FrankR (It doesn't matter what they call us, only what we answer to....)
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To: 1st I.D Vet

This is very good. Thanks for posting.


5 posted on 07/22/2010 11:27:28 AM PDT by unkus
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To: FrankR

Great Graphic!

to paraphrase Janice:

“Freedom’s just another word for nuthin’ left to loose
And you’re nuthin’, nuthin’ if you’re not free”


6 posted on 07/22/2010 11:35:09 AM PDT by algernonpj (He who pays the piper . . .)
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To: Jack Black

PING

Buy more ammo.


7 posted on 07/22/2010 11:35:14 AM PDT by stockpirate ("......When the government fears the people you have liberty." Thomas Jefferson)
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To: 1st I.D Vet

Explains rather clearly why the leftist rulers feel they must destroy the potential of the Tea Party movement. If allowed to develope the Tea Party movement could become the nucleus around which Americans can coalesce to retake the country. So the anti-American leftists do what they always do: divide and rule.

Personally I do not see it as likely that the anti-American leftists will be so thoroughly defeated as to make them into a non-threat. They will always hold power in significant parts of the country. So I think the country is going to break apart. How this comes about and whether it will be violent are questions no one can answer. Maybe it won’t happen at all. Maybe the anti-American left is so entrenched and the opposition so disorganized and dispirited that it cannot take or utilize the power necessary to set the country back on course. But a split along regional lines would not surprise me.


8 posted on 07/22/2010 11:43:02 AM PDT by scory
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To: 1st I.D Vet
Thanks to the foresight of the Founders there are more private firearms in the U.S. than people.
9 posted on 07/22/2010 11:50:05 AM PDT by Brad from Tennessee (A politician can't give you anything he hasn't first stolen from you.)
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To: scory

There already exists a ‘virtual’ split as shown on the Red-Blue voting maps after the last 3 presidential elections. The “blues” tend to congregate around the major metropolitan centers... New York, Boston, L.A., San Francisco, St. Louis, Chicago, etc. The “reds” were almost all rural areas. I participate in other mailing lists where this very split is argued all the time. Guess where the “political class” all live... both Democrat and Republican.

I thought this article was one of the more important that I have read recently.


10 posted on 07/22/2010 12:10:43 PM PDT by coldoc
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To: 1st I.D Vet

A long read, but very much worth it - thanks.

And for those who object to the duplicate post - I hadn’t seen it before and appreciate having it brought to my attention. :-)


11 posted on 07/22/2010 12:41:16 PM PDT by Wicket (God bless and protect our troops and God bless America)
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To: 1st I.D Vet

Thanks you for posting!

I found that an awesome read, regardless of whether or not it had been posted before.


12 posted on 07/22/2010 12:49:08 PM PDT by Pessimist
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To: 1st I.D Vet

Excellent.


13 posted on 07/22/2010 1:51:49 PM PDT by HonestConservative (Remember; You can't spell Mohammed without HAM.)
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To: scory

As in “Civil War 2”, it’s more likely that areas of the
Country will break off and form cultural groups. For instance, Northern and Southern California: Southeastern
area and New England.


14 posted on 07/22/2010 1:56:01 PM PDT by upcountryhorseman (An old fashioned conservative)
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To: 1st I.D Vet
It is interesting that the author chose to refer to the two competing classes as the "ruling class" and the "country class".

The latin for country is "pais" or something like that (pie-ees" in spanish, similar in italian, hence "paisano".). When the Germanic invaders created their feudal system, they made themselves the nobility, or rulers, and the people who lived there, who were the "country" prior to the invasion, became the "peasants", another word that is formed from the latin word for "country". I don't know if the author was thinking along those lines when he called us the "country" class, but it sure fits. We have a new nobility, a marxist elite ruling class, being imposed on the country, and they are doing their best to turn us of the "country" class, what I would call "Americans", into 21st Century peasants.

15 posted on 07/22/2010 2:26:21 PM PDT by Defiant (2010 is pretty much it, folks. Send them packing, or start packing.)
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To: Wicket
Rush spent his entire show on Monday on this piece. He's never done that on any article or even book that I can recall. I think part of his message was that everyone should read this, and maybe, now that the freepathon is over, we should link this article at the top of the page to make sure that it is widely read here, and disseminated elsewhere. It is a seminal piece.

I posted it on my Facebook on Saturday, so I was way ahead of Rush....

16 posted on 07/22/2010 2:32:42 PM PDT by Defiant (2010 is pretty much it, folks. Send them packing, or start packing.)
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To: 1st I.D Vet

17 posted on 07/22/2010 6:33:06 PM PDT by combat_boots (The Lion of Judah cometh. Hallelujah. Gloria Patri, Filio et Spirito Sancto.)
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To: Eaker; afnamvet; AK2KX; Ancesthntr; An Old Man; ApesForEvolution; aragorn; archy; ArmedSkeptic; ...
CWII Ping.

Not sure if I tagged a previous version of this article or not. If you have not read it make sure to. It's one of the best articles I've read this year.


18 posted on 07/23/2010 10:24:34 AM PDT by Jack Black ( Whatever is left of American patriotism is now identical with counter-revolution.)
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To: Jack Black

You should tag the one in post #2.

It explains a lot.


19 posted on 07/23/2010 10:50:02 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (No Representation without Taxation!)
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To: Abathar; Abcdefg; Abram; Abundy; akatel; albertp; AlexandriaDuke; Alexander Rubin; Allerious; ...
Has been posted a few times now (in breaking news), but in case you missed it...this is required reading!



Libertarian ping! Click here to get added or here to be removed or post a message here!
View past Libertarian pings here
20 posted on 07/24/2010 6:50:22 AM PDT by bamahead (Few men desire liberty; most men wish only for a just master. -- Sallust)
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