“The Ruling Class’s chief pretension is its intellectual superiority: its members claim to know things that the common herd cannot. It confuses its own opinions with science. While most Americans pray to the God who created us in His own image, the Ruling Class prays to themselves as saviors of the planet and as shapers of mankind in their own image.”
- The Ruling Class
Aristocracy is an antiquated version of government that originated in Ancient Greece where a small group of wealthy individuals ruled over society. It was prevalent during medieval and modern times in Europe as well, and often ended in monarchy and tyranny, the hierarchical rule by one. Although aristocracy is the antithesis of democracy, it was thought to be superior to other forms of government, as the most-qualified members of society were deemed to know what was best. Today, America has fallen into a corrupted form of aristocracy where a small group of elites hold sway over governments, institutions, media, and cultural mores, but unlike the past, do not represent the best and brightest.
In Angelo Codevilla’s 2010 book, “The Ruling Class”, Codevilla reveals how this small group of well-connected elites grew their power by taking control of government and social institutions. This self-appointed cabal, who not only schooled together but were of similar backgrounds, deemed themselves superior to their lesser Americans. Hillary Clinton famously called middle America, a basket of deplorables, branding them as uneducated, racist, and violent. Consisting of both Democrats and Republicans, this Uni-party uses the levers of government for their own power and arrogance. What is significant to their ongoing success is the lack of pushback by the majority against this minority stronghold.
South Africa was another country where a majority population was ruthlessly ruled by a minority. In this instance, the divide was race, not class. From 1960 to 1990, a significant black majority watched as the White Nationalist Party (WNP), took control of the reins of power, even barring non-whites from voting. By the 1980s and 1990s, following a series of uprisings and riots, restrictions began to be eased and then repealed. In 1994, South Africa held its first all-race election, selecting Nelson Mandela, the first black president of the country, and ending for good their corrupted version of minoritarianism.
In America, the ruling class, or the in-group, represents the governing philosophy of the coastal elites. Viewing most of America as beneath them, they use indoctrination and special benefits to keep their power by convincing the public of their expertise. Although bipartisan in some respects, they are mainly Democrats, many born into wealth and privilege, positions inherited and not earned. And this is why they detest merit, a system where their social inferiors can rise through hard work and innovation. They abhor the American constitution, written with limits that constantly thwarts their expansion of power. And since they have always admired Europe for its socialist leanings, they despise the nationalist view that the American system is the world’s best hope.
Social institutions, once autonomous, now largely align with government, and are increasingly dependent on it. By maintaining its control, the ruling class hopes to manipulate culture, morality, and social values. They rule rather than govern, by enforcing restrictions from the top down rather than using their authority on behalf of the people. They support anti-merit programs like affirmative action, and private and public unions, where they can pick winners and losers. By making people poorer and more dependent, they hope to stymie all dissent.
Codevilla named his out-group, the Country Class, for their dominance over the rest of the nation. Politically homeless, many feel that their values are unrepresented in politics. Yet, even as they distrust the GOP, they must rely on them, as the opposition party to the Democrats. Representative of nearly two-thirds of the country, the country class is the most diverse in their beliefs, lifestyles, and values. They largely support the traditional values of marriage, children, and religion, and the longstanding American principle, that all people are created equally, and should be treated as thus by the government.
Often ideologically unaligned, the country class prefers to be left alone. Ideally, the nation would return to the founder’s idea of self-rule through federalism, where power resides with the states and the people. Through voluntary cooperation with institutions, the marketplace, and one another, the country class believes that the merit system produces the best results. Consequently, self-sorting is already taking place, as people continue to flee the most authoritarian states and localities. But the country class is not without fault. Citizenship requires vigilance and responsibility to keep governments in check. To this, they have failed spectacularly, although various iterations, ala the Tea Party and MAGA, have attempted to do so in the recent past.
Government is inherently a factory of favor and inequality, with its advantage for one, coming at the expense of another. To maintain its power, it has compensated its political supporters with public money, exclusive jobs, and special contracts. Through the gerrymandering of electoral maps, it has strengthened its control and ensured its continued success in elections. As such, it has built a nearly impregnable system, despite its chronic failures at every turn without any hint of accountability.
There is a competing vision of what America should be. Borne to be fundamentally different from the early days of monarchs and aristocrats, America would have no kings; the people would rule. The ruling class is the antithesis of the ideal of the American founding. If America is to survive, we must restrengthen the foundations and beliefs on which America was built. And then wrestle back control from the privileged few.
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