Government By The In Crowd

Angelo Codevilla, America's Ruling Class, And The Road To Hell

The academic mind as found in much of academia is subject to the seductive appeal of utopian fantasies. After all, if only they, the hyper intelligent, were in charge they could make all of those nasty little difficulties of life go away. And who better than them? They looked around and didn't see anyone better. Oh well, ’pride cometh before a fall.’ Its' not really an issue with those engaged in serious academic work, designing bridges or performing surgery for instance, but mostly with those who essentially debate for a living with maybe a little teaching thrown in.

It seems to them that, with a little thought, one could improve on the world and get rid of the difficulties of earning a living; we'll just plan everything and you just do what we tell you. They are slowly undermining our constitutional protections.

Usually the ideas posit some sort of totalitarianism since otherwise people will do what they want rather than what philosopher kings want. I think the ideas appeal to certain types of people, those more concerned with security than freedom, not exactly a new thought.

Needless to say, utopianism appeals to members of what we now call the Deep State since it's self evident to them that they should just make all of the decisions. Speaking of the deep state, all countries are going to have a class of un-elected people with a lot of influence, we just don't want it to get out of hand. Some interesting thoughts on the subject were published by Angelo Codevilla about America's Ruling Class in 2010:

https://spectator.org/americas-ruling-class/

Some background on Codevilla: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelo_Codevilla

He was born in Italy in 1943 and came to America in 1955, becoming an American citizen in 1962. He graduated from Rutgers University in 1965 after studying natural science, languages and political science, then a PhD. From Claremont University Center, then taught political science. After a career in government he was a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and a professor at what is now the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. He died in a car accident at the age of 78.

He describes how our leaders are less and less elected from the middle of nowhere but more and more are coming from in insular ruling elite. Although Trump did not exactly exist in obscurity, he was not, and will never be, accepted as a member of the ruling class. We have just sort of migrated over the years into a situation where we have a class from which spring our leaders.

Since it was written in 2010, some of the people and references are out of date.

Angelo Codevilla

Today’s ruling class, from Boston to San Diego, was formed by an educational system that exposed them to the same ideas and gave them remarkably uniform guidance, as well as tastes and habits. These amount to a social canon of judgments about good and evil, complete with secular sacred history, sins (against minorities and the environment), and saints. Using the right words and avoiding the wrong ones when referring to such matters — speaking the “in” language — serves as a badge of identity. Regardless of what business or profession they are in, their road up included government channels and government money because, as government has grown, its boundary with the rest of American life has become indistinct. Many began their careers in government and leveraged their way into the private sector. Some, e.g., Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner, never held a non-government job. Hence whether formally in government, out of it, or halfway, America’s ruling class speaks the language and has the tastes, habits, and tools of bureaucrats. It rules uneasily over the majority of Americans not oriented to government. Angelo Codevilla from America's Ruling Class.

We did not have the same situation in the earlier times in our country. How could such a thing come to be? Again, from Codevilla:

Never has there been so little diversity within America’s upper crust. Always, in America as elsewhere, some people have been wealthier and more powerful than others. But until our own time America’s upper crust was a mixture of people who had gained prominence in a variety of ways, who drew their money and status from different sources and were not predictably of one mind on any given matter. The Boston Brahmins, the New York financiers, the land barons of California, Texas, and Florida, the industrialists of Pittsburgh, the Southern aristocracy, and the hardscrabble politicians who made it big in Chicago or Memphis had little contact with one another. Few had much contact with government, and “bureaucrat” was a dirty word for all. So was “social engineering.” Nor had the schools and universities that formed yesterday’s upper crust imposed a single orthodoxy about the origins of man, about American history, and about how America should be governed. All that has changed. Angelo Codevilla from America's Ruling Class.

One may say, correctly, that the wealthy and powerful have always had an advantage when running for office, but what changed is that that's no longer enough; you must be in the in crowd.

In Congressional Government (1885) Woodrow Wilson left no doubt: the U.S. Constitution prevents the government from meeting the country’s needs by enumerating rights that the government may not infringe. (“Congress shall make no law…” says the First Amendment, typically.) Our electoral system, based on single member districts, empowers individual voters at the expense of “responsible parties.” Hence the ruling class’s perpetual agenda has been to diminish the role of the citizenry’s elected representatives, enhancing that of party leaders as well as of groups willing to partner in the government’s plans, and to craft a “living” Constitution in which restrictions on government give way to “positive rights” — meaning charters of government power. Angelo Codevilla from America's Ruling Class.

Needles to say, the ruling class is not happy with the U.S. Constitution, especially the Bill of Rights.

What Codevilla shows is that we have been drifting away from our republic towards an aristocracy run, top down dictatorship for some time, and it has a lot to do with human nature; those in charge just naturally believe they should be in charge. When they talk about a “threat to our democracy” they mean a threat to rule by the in crowd. Trump is not a member of the in crowd, nor is J.D. Vance. As George Carlin famously opined. “It's a big club, and you ain't in it.” (I can't really do justice to Codevills's thoughts in this short essay, I suggest reading the article at the link, though it is on the long side.)

The new aristocracy seems genuinely worried about this trend of electing non-members of the in group. It explains why there is such vitriol spewed in the direction of Trump and his supporters. MAGA is seen as a direct threat to the in group, a rejection of the leadership by the annointed. We hear the MAGA movement painted as fascists when it is made up of ordinary Americans who believe in the country as founded, they just don't have confidence in the present ruling class, and with good reason. They haven't done a very good job, and it's apparent - FEMA seems to be a disaster. For that matter, why are all of these cabinet positions filled with people who have little if any knowledge or experience in their field? The Atomic Energy Commission, the organization which morphed into the Department of Energy, was headed by a top level nuclear scientist when I was young, now it's headed by a politician; similarly for the Department of Transportation. Woodrow Wilson at least expected his experts to be experts, but now we don't even have that. But they are members of the in crowd.

It might not seem like this has much to do with the dangers of utopian thought, but we see that the “ruling class” thinks that they are moving us toward a reasonable facsimile thereof, and you'll be happy, though you might not own anything.

Where utopianism is advanced through gradualism rather than revolution, albeit steady and persistent as in democratic societies, it can deceive and disarm an unsuspecting population, which is largely content and passive. It is sold as reforming and improving the existing society's imperfections and weaknesses without imperiling its basic nature. Under these conditions, it is mostly ignored, dismissed, or tolerated by much of the citizenry and celebrated by some. Transformation is deemed innocuous, well-intentioned, and perhaps constructive but not a dangerous trespass on fundamental liberties. Mark Levin

"The Statist has an insatiable appetite for control. His sights are set on his next meal even before he has fully digested his last. He is constantly agitating for government action. And in furtherance of that purpose, the Statist speaks in the tongue of the demagogue, concocting one pretext and grievance after another to manipulate public perceptions and build popular momentum for the divestiture of liberty and property from its rightful possessors." ~ Mark Levin

This new ruling class, whether intentionally or not, is moving us towards a totalitarian nightmare.

That's a lot of quotes, but I think they are worth it to get the gist of his article. We are, according to Codevilla, moving away from being a republic by a sort of agglomeration of power by a group of “elites” who act to maintain their power by maintaining restrictions on membership. A royalty is arising, and is acting like one.

"The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite." ~ Thomas Jefferson

Stay Brave, Stay Free