(Above: A portrait of the Washington, DC-based political/government/ruling class in America, from The American Spectator.)
Yesterday I said "It doesn’t take a weatherman to see which way the wind is blowing," referring to some "Republicans-of-Yesterday" who are trying to wrap the flag of Tea Party reform around themselves…when in fact they were—and are—part of the problem.
In response, a stellar New Hampshire state representative wrote this: "Let’s just assume their kind are at least as astute as the rest of us. We have had a long history of being whipsawed like this between the two parties. The idea is to keep up the pretense of change. Always hoping it will be the real thing…this time. But it never is, is it? What we have begun to do here in New Hampshire is the way it will happen if it ever does happen, with the grassroots lovers of freedom just taking it away from them."
He made an excellent point. In response, I say this:
Yes. It’s happening everywhere across America. But I think it’s going to happen "bigger and better" in New Hampshire. We’ve got the activists, the commitment, the discernment, and the political firepower.
It’s extremely difficult to defeat the political/government/ruling class. Their interests are narrow and focused. The source of both their economic and psychological sustenance is simple: The growth and expansion of government power. Because of this, they are extremely focused, persistent, and naturally well-organized. This class is and always has been the foundation for the institution of tyranny, and the enemy of the peaceful, the industrious, and the productive. The philosopher Eric Hoffer referred to each in turn as "the scribes" and "the traders." He wrote that in a society where free trade and exchange dominate, "the scribe is usually kept out of the management of affairs, but is given a more or less free hand in the cultural field. By frustrating the scribe’s craving for commanding action, the trader draws upon himself the scribe’s wrath and scorn."
The "traders" of modern times are those engaged in business who do not benefit from special government privileges—from local entrepreneurs and small business owners, to the Internet-entrepreneurs, to the middling and large businesses, right on up to phenomenons like the dot.com zillionaires. These people—who are engaged in the work of discerning and satisfying the needs and desires of their fellow human beings—are scorned by the "scribes" of today, except to the extent that their wealth can be seized or otherwise utilized to advance the interests of the political/government/ruling class.
This class has helped create, and supported, every despotism in history, from the early Mesopotamian dynasties of the Tigris-Euphrates River Valley, to the hyrdaulic despotisms of the Pharaohs, to the Alexandrian and Roman empires, to the feudal Monarchies, to the various religion-based despotisms of history, and finally to the modern-day cancer of socialism in all its forms, including the NAZIs, communists, fascists, Stalinists, Maoists, and the killing fields of Cambodia. Today it has culminated in the modern day disease of the "welfare state," a form of government invented by the political/government/ruling class to deal with the problem of modern democracy.
The political/government/ruling class, like the poor, have always and will always be with us. They are like termites, always eating away at the foundations of human freedom, enterprise, and industry (which are the sources of material wealth and abundance). They never, ever rest, as shown by history, and they are responsible for the destruction of every effort by human societies to live in peace and freedom from the beginning of recorded history, including the destruction of the early unwalled Sumerian cities at the dawn of civilization, the end of the Roman Republic, the defeat of the democratic Greek city states, and in modern times the erasure of the democratic Kerensky regime in revolutionary Russia, the Weimar Republic in Germany, and uncounted others.
It is important that we identify, know, and understand the nature of the forces arrayed against individual freedom, personal responsibility, small government, and free enterprise. Happily, understanding of the aims and tactics of the political/government/ruling class is rapidly spreading. This dawning understanding drives a growing movement to block the disease, which is characterized by the explosive growth of government power. The Tea Party movement and the revolt within the Republican Party are but two manifestations of that growing movement.
In short, we are right now in the midst of a historic battle over the future of America. History is always hard to discern when you’re living it. But in the middle of it we are. One of its epicenters is the state of New Hampshire.
The United States of America is the beneficiary of the greatest effort in history to permanently shackle and disempower the political/government/ruling class. That effort was mounted by the Founding Fathers, and resulted in the U.S. Constitution. But even that magnificent document has ultimately failed to protect us.
This is why a newly-enraged and finally-engaged populace has awakened in America from a nearly century-long slumber. The sides are increasingly clearly drawn. But even more importantly, the players on each side are increasingly clearly identified. The outcome will be either the end of the American Experiment, or a reinvigorated Republic, quite possibly protected by new amendments to the U.S. Constitution designed to "plug the holes" that the political/government/ruling class has exploited to explode the power and reach of government.
The outcome lies in the balance, and is not at all assured.
