President Barack H. Obama Jr., with Rep. Nancy P. Pelosi, D-Calif., in the oval office
[Hear audio of the conversation between Graham and Prof. Codevilla: here.]
During an interview last week with Professor Angelo M. Codevilla, about the premise of his book, The Ruling Class: How They Corrupted America and What We Can Do About It, I was overcome by two thoughts: how in the world, and why? How in the world could we have fallen so far from the dream of our nation???s founders? Why in the world did we let the ???Ruling Class??? get so far?
What exactly is the Ruling Class? For starters, they think they???re better than you and me. They would prefer that our nation???s government be run and ruled more like those of European nations, other than, of course, the truly democratic European nation of Switzerland. They believe that gun owners and those who believe in God and country are Neanderthals and ignoramuses. Heaven forbid you actually want to join the military and defend your country. Most of all, they believe that they are all well-represented by the Democratic Party, and through that belief have an effective unity, as evidenced by the last presidential election.
On the other hand, there???s the ???Country Class,??? basically everyone else. We have a variety of beliefs, a loyalty to our country, and though the Republican Party vies to represent us, only a fourth of us feel represented by this political party. A major reason is that those in the Republican Party are, also, vying for membership in the Ruling Class. So how, did this happen?
It goes back to good business: networking. And bad business: nepotism. Yes, there are the Skull and Crossbones, Yalies and Harvard grads, which infest American politics and high echelons of major corporations, and the conspiracies and realities about these power-brokering relationships having started in university.
Don???t get me wrong: there will always be nepotism. Just as there will always be the Elite Class, something I often, and wrongly, confuse with the Ruling Class. It???s just when the Elite Class begins thinking they are, and know, better than the Country Class. It???s then that they become the Ruling Class, and why for the first time since conditions that led to hatred against King George, refusal against a class system, and the birth of the United States of America, have the American People had such a great distrust of our government and the Ruling Class that has hijacked it.
One of the major reasons for this change is the ???professional politician???. The ???professional??? as stated in Codevilla???s must-read, was a concept put forth by Lenin, yes, that Lenin. Ironically, the concept that Lenin formed, of a professional politician, was in response to his frustration at the lack of interest in the Bolshevik faction by the Russian people. Ring a bell? Here???s a member of the ruling class, actual at that time, he was only an elite, coming up with ideas of how the Country Class, should be ruled. Shazam: The Communist Party and Big Government!
The divide in the United States between the professionals of power and citizen politics used to be much smaller. Now, the government has become so big, that the business of politics has followed close behind, and outweighs the power of The People to govern itself. It???s so entrenched, that it???s no wonder politicians, no matter what party, are so focused on the golden ring afforded the Ruling Class.
Big Government is the monster that was only a little cub in the early 1900s, but after the major increase in taxes and the spending of those tax dollars, has become a grotesque merry-go-round that we can???t seem to get off. It???s one of the reasons many think the similarity between lawyers and politicians is that they appear to create the very problems they profess to fix: Big Government is the answer that creates the problem it never corrects. One of the most striking examples is how our supreme court has evolved from a judicial body of non-activist judges, dedicated to assuring federal law is in accordance to the Constitution, to one where everyone questions the backgrounds and political leanings of the judges appointed by the executive branch.
Big Government is so counter to the vision of the great nation described by Our Founding Fathers. It???s why all the signers of the Constitution had real jobs, and the duties of a politician. Political office was meant to be calling, a duty, along the lines of soldier, priest and physician. When ???politician??? became a sole career choice, and a choice gravy train ticket, is when the slippery slope to the Ruling Class began.
According to Codevilla, one way to reset this is to resize the government. Drop departments like hot rocks. Chop budgets in half. Most importantly, make the United States and the American people the US Government???s priority, instead of making the rest of the world our government???s main concern. Other nations are being taken care of by their governments. If not, it???s up to them to fix it, not us: we???ve got enough problems to take care of within our own borders???but the topic of war, and foreign venturing and finance, is best let for a talk about another great book by Codevilla, dedicated to the subject, titled Advice to War Presidents.
Now, I could go on and on about the manner in which the Ruling Class of the United States has evolved, how it became so prominent, and how dangerous it has become to the freedoms and quality of life of Americans, not the least of which are previously unquestioned rights to choices on education, medical attention, free speech, and freedoms to protect life and limb; but that would deprive you of enriching your minds with a wealth of knowledge collected by an internationally, well-respected specialist in political relations, history and character, so well-delivered in Professor Codevilla???s The Ruling Class.
