Prof. Angelo Codevilla, whose concise and erudite insights have for decades helped to clarify what's going on "under the skin" of US politics, has done it again.
Texas v. Pennsylvania et al. did not deny setting rules for the 2020 election contrary to the Constitution. On December 10, 2020, the Supreme Court discounted that. By refusing to interfere as America’s ruling oligarchy serves itself, the court archived what remained of the American republic’s system of equal justice. That much is clear.
In 2021, the laws, customs, and habits of the heart that had defined the American republic since the 18th century are things of the past. Americans’ movements and interactions are under strictures for which no one ever voted. Government disarticulated society by penalizing ordinary social intercourse and precluding the rise of spontaneous opinion therefrom. Together with corporate America, it smothers minds through the mass and social media with relentless, pervasive, identical, and ever-evolving directives. In that way, these oligarchs have proclaimed themselves the arbiters of truth, entitled and obliged to censor whoever disagrees with them as systemically racist, adepts of conspiracy theories.
Corporations, and the government itself, require employees to attend meetings personally to acknowledge their guilt. They solicit mutual accusations. While violent felons are released from prison, anyone may be fired or otherwise have his life wrecked for questioning government/corporate sentiment. Today’s rulers don’t try to convince. They demand obedience, and they punish.
Russians and East Germans under Communists Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker in the 1970s lived under less ruling class pressure than do today’s Americans. And their rulers were smart enough not to insult them, their country, or their race.
In 2015, Americans could still believe they lived in a republic, in which life’s rules flow from the people through their representatives. In 2021, a class of rulers draws their right to rule from self-declared experts’ claims of infallibility that dwarf baroque kings’ pretensions.
In that self-referential sense, the United States of America is now a classic oligarchy.
There's much more at the link. Essential reading, IMHO, and highly recommended.
I have to agree with Prof. Codevilla. America is, indeed, under the rule of oligarchs . . . at present. However, if one is a student of history, one thing becomes very, very clear. Every oligarchy throughout history has been overthrown - many of them violently, with terminally nasty consequences for a lot of the oligarchs.
One hopes our present powers-that-be remember that; but one suspects they're so drunk with their newly regained power that they think this time, it'll be different. One trusts they'll be doomed to disappointment.
Peter
I was agreeing with you about the election until very recently but then my mind drifted back to election of 2000. It was also extremely controversial and decided by an extremely biased authority But in the end the country continued.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that America will continue, not because the Democrats are not evil but because they aren’t that competent.
For an evil all powerful entity they aren’t very good at being evil or powerful.
I would be afraid if they weren’t so crap at being “the empire”.
Their candidate was obviously picked as a sacrifice candidate cos they didn’t think the Donald was beatable.
In a democracy you have to get used to living with morons in charge for at least 50% of the time. They also won’t take your guns but will probably invent a new form that “must” be filled in but their will be a loophole.
And if the worst happens you have many warm cuddly guns to keep you happy.
However, if one is a student of history, one thing becomes very, very clear. Every oligarchy throughout history has been overthrown - many of them violently, with terminally nasty consequences for a lot of the oligarchs.
ReplyDeleteI'm waiting for that to happen in Russia with Putin and those oligarchs. Oh, and Saudi Arabia. And Iran. Turkey. Oh, yeah; can't forget Venezuela. Or Zimbabwe. How could I leave out China?
Every oligarchy throughout history hasn't been overthrown. They're still there and I think there always be some. It seems to be a stable form of government that lasts indefinitely. They get overthrown when people get sick enough of it.
This is what we cannot forgive or forget:
ReplyDeletehttps://newswithviews.com/sydney-powell-has-found-the-actual-results-of-the-presidential-election/
We will never have a fair or free election again. We will be allowed to pick pre vetted candidates but they will toe the party line.
ReplyDeleteThe party line is we all need to be servants of the state which means we will loose weapons.
The only way we can get anything back will be through some sort of resistance
The country we knew is dead.
John Galt has left the building
ReplyDelete"However, if one is a student of history, one thing becomes very, very clear. Every oligarchy throughout history has been overthrown - many of them violently, with terminally nasty consequences for a lot of the oligarchs."
ReplyDeleteTrue enough, *eventually*, after many deaths and much suffering. It's not unlike organized crime: the odds of retiring rich and safe are astronomically low, but you will be cock of the walk for a while, and there's no shortage of people willing to take that deal. Sure, they'll either end up in prison or dismembered, in a landfill, but they'll have a fun ride there, with more money, prettier women, and better times than most of us will have in our longer lives of playing it straight.
@SiGraybeard: "I'm waiting for that to happen in Russia with Putin and those oligarchs. Oh, and Saudi Arabia. And Iran. Turkey. Oh, yeah; can't forget Venezuela. Or Zimbabwe. How could I leave out China? "
ReplyDeleteYou're thinking in terms of a single human lifetime. On that level, many, if not most, of the nastiest governments out there survive longer. Just remember your Chuck Palahniuk: “On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.” There's no question that they'll all ultimately fall, the only question is, in each example, how many lives will be destroyed from this day to that.
Ed beat me to it.
ReplyDelete