Saturday, July 24, 2010

Thoughts on Codevilla’s “Ruling Class” Article

From Chicago Boyz:

Much has already been said about this excellent article.

Rather than pile on the (deserved) praise, I want to ask the following question(s).

How does one defeat this “class?” What strategies will succeed? What resources are necessary? I think these are important questions because the article succeeds in raising our consciousness to the problem, but doesn’t offer a game plan as to how to proceed. It is up to us (Country Class) to develop one. After developing it, we need to start executing, regardless of whether others come along with us.

Let me start with a few observations.


First, I argue that a plan of some sort is necessary. I’ll back that up by relaying two stories from last week. I was talking to a gentleman running for an IL state rep. seat. He’s right on the issues, he’s running for the 2nd time, and he actually does have a shot. He is also running un-aided by the ILL GOP (ruling class), who ran candidates against him in the primary and tried to bribe him out of the race. His race is microcosm of what Codevilla describes in his article. When asked to lay out how he was going to win, he ruminated about “this cycle” and the “Tea Party.” He had no plan. He had nothing to show a potential donor or supporter that could give them confidence that he knew what he was doing. If he wins, it will be luck.

The second incident occurred at a meeting of some think tank and activist types discussing the IL Budget and some strategies to address the issue. One of the attendees, a former operative of the ILL GOP machine (who started back when it could win a few elections), discussed the collapse of the party after Ryan, and pined for the days when the Thompson and Edgar Patronage system worked. (I laid out my view that these patronage Republicans are the ones who destroyed the party by creating a system that split the productive base from unproductive patronage pension suckers. But that could use a whole book to unpack.) This operative, however, did have one thing going for him. He had a plan.

Second, the ‘tea parties’ are NOT enough. They are already showing wear and tear brought on by their vaunted “independence.” (Some might call it lack of discipline.) Also, we ought not believe that the Tea Party is some new phenomenon. They have always been there. Their last iteration was the Perot voter. We are seeing something significant in their emergence absent a Perot. If there was ever a year/cycle where a slightly less crazed billionaire attempted to start a party, this would be it. A good chunk of Democrats, regular Republicans, and the newly active Tea Party could form a majority, and throw a presidential election to Congress.

Third, just like Codevilla makes us conscious of the failed and morally flaccid “ruling class,” we need to continue the process by identifying first the principles, and then the policies, that are supported by the “country class.” Conservatives need to understand that while the principles will look (r)epublican, the policies will, by necessity, have to seem much more centrist.

For my part, I remain pessimistic about the prospect of any nondescript movement ‘fixing’ or re-orienting the Republican Party. The party is too compromised to change. That is why I’m pretty sure that we need a 3rd party to develop. This party will either a) supplant the Republican Party, or b) threaten its existence to the point where they have no choice but to shed the “ruling class” members in favor of the “country class.” Either result is worth losing an election cycle, IMO. As of this moment, I’m holding out some hope that I’m wrong, and that the Republican Party reverts to its roots...
***

Read it all.

15 comments:

  1. We have a similar situation here, with House minority whip Eric Cantor being challenged by a man I had never heard of until this week. A constitutional libertarian Tea Party kind of guy who does what we do, writing his representatives and the media. I will support him. If he doesn't get elected, I will know that I did not take the easy, low road.
    Floyd Bayne for 7th District, central Virginia. You can bet the NRA won't talk about him, except as a soon-to-be has-been. PATRIOT Act Cantor is somehow a "friend of gun rights." Besides, he's PROVED he is electable. It's like an employer wanting only experienced applicants, who can't get experience because no one will hire them.

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  2. Not only do we need to starve the monkeys, we need to starve the GOP establishment and the NRA. These patronizing elitists have taken us for granted far too long. I am reminded of Oliver Cromwell's words to the Long Parliament: You have sat here far too long. Depart from here and let us have done with you, in the name of God, go."

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  3. Here's the most effective way to defeat the elite:

    Voluntary simplicity, or, living well on very little money, kicks evil people in the nuts and gouges out their eyes...Doing this in the U.S. has a force multiplier effect because the U.S. is the largest source of the funds that keep the global ponzi scheme running. When people in wealthy countries opt out, the action causes major economic damage to the machine...

    Living simply on very little money kills the system slowly. This is actually a good thing. Why don’t I advocate all out war against the many Achilles heels in the infrastructure of the American Corporate State? It’s simple really: nuclear weapons....

    In a society like the U.S., defunding fascists via voluntary simplicity is the most effective form of resistance that I am aware of.

    http://cryptogon.com/?p=1286

    Voluntary simplicity is as frightening to many people as armed insurgency.

    http://cryptogon.com/2006_11_12_blogarchive.html

    It’s because ubiquitous, small scale agriculture represents a greater threat to state power than armed resistance. Small scale and underground food economies defund the state’s ability to kill and imprison people. Where’s the state when you hand over cash, a bottle of homemade liquor, or some other fungible thing for your goods at a farmer’s market or a farm gate? The state is far away, slowly dying as your network strengthens.

    http://cryptogon.com/?p=14341

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  4. Tx Bocephus. Will post this info as a standalone.

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  5. Anon at 2:18:

    The GOP and the NRA are in fact monkeys of the worst type.

    To hell with them both.

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  6. I will vote this year. I will NOT be voting for a republican nor will I vote for a democrat.

    Fire the incumbents!

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  7. I have decided to live very simple. I started several years ago to starve the monkeys and better my own lifestyle. I own everything I have, closed my bank acct a year ago and also work less, not slaving away to feed the beast. Leaves room for more gear and ammo.
    All my friends and co-workers are in hock to their eyeballs, working 6 days a week sometimes, just to pay their bills and never paying off anything. They just buy more and work harder. Most are extremely proud of their credit rating too. They watch Fox News and tell me how things will really change come November. Most are NRA members. Hardly any of them talk with me any more, they don't want to hear my treasonous crap against Fox and the Repulicrats, let alone my rants against the NRA and banking.
    So I am now the grey man, keep to myself and still prepare for the worst. I don't see much hope on the horizon when we look to middle America and find it comprised of Fox and NRA 'tards. They may hate Hillary and Obama, Reid and Pelosi, but they are just the flip side of the same coin.
    Starving the monkeys is a great idea, but you won't convince the common man to do it. This nation feeds on debt.
    Semper Fi,0321

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  8. I like it, Bocephus. I think, if Congress closes the "gun show loophole," that will be the only way to acquire firearms and gear without generating a record. Now that the government wants 1099 tax forms submitted for transactions totaling $600 in a year, barter is the way to go. They may have people running stings on bartering of gun stuff and anything else because they love that tax money, to the point of asking for RETROACTIVE taxes on inheritance and other income during the period when those taxes are not in force. I wouldn't want to be one of those informers.
    Twenty-five percent is not enough. Fifty percent is not enough. Seventy-five percent is getting close, but still not enough. I remember in the '90s some Clintonian fedhead was quoted as wanting taxation at the 90 percent level.

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  9. We have run out of time to use the tactic of "winning by losing" for the third time in as many election cycles.

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  10. Here's my solution to the feds. I posted this letter to my congress critters a couple of week ago. I declare my independence by stating that I will no longer obey them and I state why. Feel free to do the same.

    Ok, the federal government is going to sue Arizona.

    So the feds and obuma are going to sue the state of Arizona for enforcing federal law on a state level. Maybe it's because Arizona also added more and better civil right protections than federal law? We all know how the federal government hates competition.

    How much more plain can this administration make it that they will not enforce federal immigration laws? If they will not enforce our laws that they create, why should we obey any laws that they write? This is a line that they have crossed in their corruption and it's time to tell them to buzz off. I'll say it here and now, you no longer have any force of law that you can use against me. No federal law has any authority over me or the free people of the United States. Your willful failure to treat us all as equal under the law overturns the laws and your authority.

    You, Barrak Obama and you, the Congress of the United States, have failed in your most important duty. It is your foremost job to protect the sovereignty of the United States of American and protect its citizens from harm. By not enforcing our border laws you are willfully permitting the invasion by criminals and terrorist into the US. The lives of our fellow citizens lost and their blood spilled is on your hands. The property stolen and the treasury robbed is your fault. You are all not part of the solution, but your corrupt criminal supporting acts are the problem.

    Your refusal to enforce the immigration laws until immigration reform passes only shows that you are doing this as a political football. You are holding our lives and property as hostage to your political agenda. This is just plain evil, repulsive, and un-american.

    There are now reports that obuma intends to solve this problem by use of a presidential pardon or executive order. Since congress is balking at passing his version of immigration reform he will just make them totally irrelevant. Who needs lawmakers as a rubber stamp when the king obuma can just make a decree?

    You, Barrak Obama, your bureaucrats, and the liberal democrats, indeed the whole of congress are ordered to vacate your offices. Your willful acts against the laws of this nation, your oaths of office, and it's citizens make you all unfit to serve. If you are campaigning for office in 2010 you should save your money for your immediate retirement.

    This free American taxpayer will no longer obey you and your evil kind. I call on all Free Americans to do the same.

    Ken Lowder
    oneangrytaxpayer.org

    ReplyDelete
  11. Here's my direct response to the ruling calss sent to my congress critters.

    So the feds and obuma are going to sue the state of Arizona for enforcing federal law on a state level. Maybe it's because Arizona also added more and better civil right protections than federal law? We all know how the federal government hates competition.

    How much more plain can this administration make it that they will not enforce federal immigration laws? If they will not enforce our laws that they create, why should we obey any laws that they write? This is a line that they have crossed in their corruption and it's time to tell them to buzz off. I'll say it here and now, you no longer have any force of law that you can use against me. No federal law has any authority over me or the free people of the United States. Your willful failure to treat us all as equal under the law overturns the laws and your authority.

    You, Barrak Obama and you, the Congress of the United States, have failed in your most important duty. It is your foremost job to protect the sovereignty of the United States of American and protect its citizens from harm. By not enforcing our border laws you are willfully permitting the invasion by criminals and terrorist into the US. The lives of our fellow citizens lost and their blood spilled is on your hands. The property stolen and the treasury robbed is your fault. You are all not part of the solution, but your corrupt criminal supporting acts are the problem.

    Your refusal to enforce the immigration laws until immigration reform passes only shows that you are doing this as a political football. You are holding our lives and property as hostage to your political agenda. This is just plain evil, repulsive, and un-american.

    There are now reports that obuma intends to solve this problem by use of a presidential pardon or executive order. Since congress is balking at passing his version of immigration reform he will just make them totally irrelevant. Who needs lawmakers as a rubber stamp when the king obuma can just make a decree?

    You, Barrak Obama, your bureaucrats, and the liberal democrats, indeed the whole of congress are ordered to vacate your offices. Your willful acts against the laws of this nation, your oaths of office, and it's citizens make you all unfit to serve. If you are campaigning for office in 2010 you should save your money for your immediate retirement.

    This free American taxpayer will no longer obey you and your evil kind. I call on all Free Americans to do the same.

    Ken Lowder
    oneangrytaxpayer.org

    ReplyDelete
  12. Here's my response to the ruling class that I sent to my congress critters a couple of weeks ago.

    So the feds and obuma are going to sue the state of Arizona for enforcing federal law on a state level. Maybe it's because Arizona also added more and better civil right protections than federal law? We all know how the federal government hates competition.

    How much more plain can this administration make it that they will not enforce federal immigration laws? If they will not enforce our laws that they create, why should we obey any laws that they write? This is a line that they have crossed in their corruption and it's time to tell them to buzz off. I'll say it here and now, you no longer have any force of law that you can use against me. No federal law has any authority over me or the free people of the United States. Your willful failure to treat us all as equal under the law overturns the laws and your authority.

    You, Barrak Obama and you, the Congress of the United States, have failed in your most important duty. It is your foremost job to protect the sovereignty of the United States of American and protect its citizens from harm. By not enforcing our border laws you are willfully permitting the invasion by criminals and terrorist into the US. The lives of our fellow citizens lost and their blood spilled is on your hands. The property stolen and the treasury robbed is your fault. You are all not part of the solution, but your corrupt criminal supporting acts are the problem.

    Your refusal to enforce the immigration laws until immigration reform passes only shows that you are doing this as a political football. You are holding our lives and property as hostage to your political agenda. This is just plain evil, repulsive, and un-american.

    You, Barrak Obama, your bureaucrats, and the liberal democrats, indeed the whole of congress are ordered to vacate your offices. Your willful acts against the laws of this nation, your oaths of office, and it's citizens make you all unfit to serve. If you are campaigning for office in 2010 you should save your money for your immediate retirement.

    This free American taxpayer will no longer obey you and your evil kind. I call on all Free Americans to do the same.

    Ken Lowder
    oneangrytaxpayer.org

    ReplyDelete
  13. Executing is the word I choose.

    CIII

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  14. If they run again for office, is there a way to let them know they'll never see the end of their term? As in terminal.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I've been advocating living simple and small for years now, been practicing that philosophy all my life.

    What will kill the beast will be mass noncompliance. This means a spirit of disobedience to as many laws, rules, taxes, bureaucrats and thugs as one can. Such a spirit has to be cultivated it doesn't emerge overnight nor does the requisite wisdom to do so effectively(meaning not get busted, then you're a martyr.)

    Just like learning to walk you have to learn to get off your back and crawl on your belly before you can attempt to walk.

    My blog's full of these articles...

    ReplyDelete