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The Spectacle Blog
The economic historian Robert Higgs has published a glowing review of Angelo Codevilla’s cover story for our summer issue, “America’s Ruling Class — and The Perils of Revolution.” Higgs has as good a distillation of the essay’s themes as I’ve seen:
Members of the two classes do not like one another. In particular, the ruling class views the rest of the population as composed of ignoramuses who are vicious, violent, racist, religious, irrational, unscientific, backward, generally ill-behaved, and incapable of living well without constant, detailed direction by our betters; and it views itself as perfectly qualified and entitled to pound us into better shape by the generous application of laws, taxes, subsidies, regulations, and unceasing declarations of its dedication to bringing the country-and indeed the entire world-out of its present darkness and into the light of the Brave New World it is busily engineering.
This class divide has little to do with rich versus poor or Democrat versus Republican. At its core, it has to do with the division between, on the one hand, those whose attitudes are attuned to the views endorsed by the ruling class (especially “political correctness”) and whose fortunes are linked directly or indirectly with government programs and, on the other hand, those whose outlooks and interests derive from and focus on private affairs, especially the traditional family, religion, and genuine private enterprise. Above all, as Codevilla makes plain, “for our ruling class, identity always trumps.” These people know they are superior in every way, and they are not shy about letting us know that they are. Arrogance might as well be their middle name.
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More Blog Posts by Joseph Lawler
http://spectator.org/blog/2010/07/26/higgs-on-codevilla
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Alan Brooks| 7.26.10 @ 6:45PM
Say what you want, Obama must be re-elected or we'll go through more post-Cold War GOP dithering.
ggoblue| 7.26.10 @ 7:37PM
99 days till we kick your ass... and then watch the democratic party implode... the resignation of hillary clinton...the laying of groundwork to run against barry soetoro...
its going to be fun to watch...
tick...tick...tick...
Alan Brooks| 7.26.10 @ 11:15PM
But you are 0 for 6.
Six elections since '88, and the GOP blew it.
Sure, everyone knows the GOP had to erect a big tent and compromised itself... doesn't matter, the GOP still blew it.
No one gets rewarded, ultimately, for blowing it, so why should the GOP be rewarded?
Alan Brooks| 7.26.10 @ 11:24PM
... six general elections since '88:
Bush 41 ('88)
Bush 41 ('92)
Dole ('96)
Bush 41 (2000)
Bush 41 ('04)
McCain ('08)
You can run whomever you want-- but you can't expect Reagan Democrats to vote for them.
SpiralArchitect| 7.26.10 @ 6:54PM
Why do you bother to troll these halls?
A Socialist by any other name... could be Alan Brooks.
Yes, thanks for affording me the opportunity to 'say what I want' - your a real sport.
Alan Brooks| 7.26.10 @ 11:18PM
Socialist?
Wait, it is communist: you left out "fag and vegetarian, PETA member, pot smoking draft dodger pinko libtard pedophile dope dealer abortionist hitchiker..."
Tim*| 7.26.10 @ 8:54PM
Nobody just has to be elected , Brooks.
Go ask Algore .
Alan Brooks| 7.26.10 @ 11:20PM
Gore almost won in 2000.
D. Singh| 7.27.10 @ 3:43AM
Sir
Mr Higgs has written a commendable review of Mr Angelo Codevilla's brilliant article for The American Spectator.
In his review he observes of the (self appointed and self congratulatory) ruling class:
“These people know they are superior in every way, and they are not shy about letting us know that they are. Arrogance might as well be their middle name.”
That observation reminds me of a quote from the Russian writer Fedor Dostoevsky (1821 – 1881) – who today if he lived in the USA would be a powerful and painful critic of the ruling class. Dostoevsky wrote in Crime and Punishment (1866):
“All people seem to be divided into ‘ordinary’ and ‘extra-ordinary’. The ordinary people must lead a life of strict obedience and have no right to transgress the law because… they are ordinary. Whereas the extraordinary people have the right to commit any crime they like and transgress the law in any way just because they happen to be extraordinary.”
greghawk| 7.27.10 @ 5:24AM
ALAN BROOKS = Ruling Class (Harvard - Right?)