“Power
resides where men believe it resides. It’s a trick, a shadow on the wall. And a
very small man can cast a very large shadow.” —
Lord
Varys, in George R. R. Martin’s “A Song of Fire and Ice”
In the 3 previous posts of this series on elitism, we have explored 3 different
elite groups in American society: a self-righteous religious elite, a
self-serving plutocratic elite, and a self-sabotaging intellectual elite. The direction the future history of this country will take will
depend on how these groups interact with one another.
Throughout most of recorded
history, complex human societies have been ruled largely by monarchs or
dictators, who rose to power through military prowess and/or intrigue and passed
power down to their descendants or to hand-picked successors. These
aristocracies formed military/plutocratic elites which held both the power of
arms and that of money. The only notable exceptions were Athenian Democracy and
the Roman Republic. Both eventually were replaced by tyrannies.
In the classical world, rulers were
often also intellectuals. Scions of powerful Greek and Roman families were sent
to be instructed by the greatest teachers, and were in fact much better
educated than most of their subjects. Alexander the Great was not just a great
military leader. He was a pupil of Aristotle, one of the greatest minds of all
time. Julius Caesar wasn’t just a general and a dictator. He was one of the
finest writers in all Roman history, and his diaries describing his military
campaigns are early examples of anthropology. Instead of mocking or reviling
the populations he conquered, Caesar meticulously described their societies,
traditions, languages and lifestyles in a concise, scientific, dispassionate
style.
Roman elites were sent to Greece
for instruction, and it became standard for them to be bilingual. As Horace put
it “Graecia capta ferum victorem coepit”
(Greece, once it was conquered, conquered its savage victors). Philosophers
were commonly employed as imperial advisors. The enduring power of classical
civilization comes from a blend of Roman pragmatism and engineering and Greek
intellectualism. The ruling class in the classical world was very much an
intellectual elite.
Why does this ancient history still
matter today? Every modern democracy is built upon a blueprint of Greek and
Roman institutions with various adaptations. The American Revolution, which
started the modern republican movement, was led by intellectuals who were very
familiar with the classical world, and who consciously attempted to construct a
hybrid between Athenian Democracy and the Roman Republic. The popular vote was
an Athenian invention. Rome had a Senate and two Consuls (“President and
Vice-President), as well as a court system (tribunals) and a code of
jurisprudence. The very word “Republic” is Latin (Res Publica, or “that which
belongs to the public”). Both Athens and Republican Rome were led by educated
elites at the height of their powers. The public had more say in Athens than
they had in Rome, but they were also keenly informed on current events. In
fact, the word “idiot”, used today as an insult, is Greek. It means
“self-absorbed person who only knows about his own life (and is uninformed
about politics)”.
In the Hellenistic world, religious
elites existed but had a rather limited role in power politics. Conversely, in
ancient Egypt and Israel the priestly class held significant political power,
and organized religion was an important ally of political power.
This trend intensified with the diffusion of
Christianity and Islam. Religious justification for monarchies of all sorts,
from French and British kings to Russian czars and Islamic Caliphs served to
keep the populace under control and provided supernatural support for earthly
rulers. Constantine adopted Christianity as the official religion of the Roman
Empire after claiming that his defeat of Maxentius in 312 AD was divinely
ordained[i].
Christian apologists promoted a story according to which an angel had visited Constantine
in a dream, telling him to decorate his soldiers’ shields with a cross, and
promising “In Hoc Signo Vinces” (In this sign, you shall win). Elaborate
crowning ceremonies whereby a priestly authority conferred divine approval upon
the anointment of a monarch became standard in Christian Europe, beginning with
Charlemagne’s coronation as Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III on Christmas
Day, 800 AD[ii].
In the Muslim world, the Caliph (Khalifa) was revered as the ultimate religious
authority and a direct successor of the Prophet, a hybrid between a king and a
Pope[iii].
The “alliance between the throne
and altar” was highly successful for centuries. It essentially consisted in a
military/plutocratic elite ruling with the support of a religious elite.
The American and French Revolutions
signed a turning point in history, with the rebellion of intellectual elites to
aristocratic elites to re-establish the republic as a viable form of government
for the first time since Julius Caesar. The rebirth of the republic was not
painless. The American republic descended into a savage civil war few decades
after its inception. The divisions that caused that war have not yet completely
healed. The French republic had to endure multiple bouts with dictatorship and
monarchy before its eventual success[iv],[v].
After the two World Wars, most Western
nations adopted democratic republican forms of governments, though some, such
as Britain and the Netherlands, retained ceremonial monarchs. In the post-World
War 2 era, republics arose throughout the world, although in many cases such republics
were and remain today de facto dictatorships with perfunctory elections and
rubberstamp legislatures.
Nominally, democratic republics are
ruled by the citizens through a process of popular vote similar to that of
ancient Athens. Details vary from country to country, but the basic principle
is that of government “of the people, by the people and for the people”.
This most inclusive form of
government, whereby citizens are not subjects and government is accountable to
citizens, is the product of French and British Enlightenment philosophical
theories which promoted reason over belief and introduced the radical idea that
all humans have equal rights[vi].
The Enlightenment was at the root of the scientific revolution that produced
the modern Western world. In fact, the American and French Republics represented
attempts to replace tradition and religion with reason in to justify the
existence of a government. They also placed, for the first time, the military
under the collective control of the citizens.
The establishment of republics did
not mean the end of elitism, nor did it achieve complete egalitarianism. It did
mean that a political/intellectual elite, in many cases supported by a
financial/plutocratic elite, replaced hereditary aristocratic elites supported
by religious elites. At least temporarily, religious elites lost some of their
power to secular financial and intellectual elites.
However, in capitalist societies
political power exercised on behalf of voting citizens is not the only kind of
power. Financial power wielded by plutocratic elites is a strong contender.
Elections offer opportunities to increase the share of power wielded
by a particular elite. In a sense, the constant struggle between conservatives
and progressives in Western democracies can be boiled down to a power struggle
between a plutocratic elite, which tends to concentrate financial resources
into its own hands, and an intellectual elite, which claims greater control of
these resources on behalf of a majority of citizens.
In a democratic system, this poses
an interesting challenge. Both the plutocratic elite and the intellectual elite
are minorities. In order to gain and
retain political power, they need the continued support of the majority of voters,
who are neither wealthy nor highly educated.
Superficially, the intellectual
elite would appear to have a natural advantage. They are committed to
broadening access to financial and educational resources, and inasmuch as they
promote progressive policies, they are driven by more altruistic motives than
the plutocratic elite. The plutocratic elite, which is primarily motivated by
self-interest, would never win an election if elections were simply
competitions between clearly laid out platforms for progress.
How the plutocratic elite has
solved this dilemma, at least in the United States, is apparent by looking at
the history of the past few decades.
In 1961, in his farewell speech, President
Dwight D. Eisenhower warned against the growing influence of a
military-industrial complex, adding that only an “alert and knowledgeable”
citizenry could control this influence [vii].
Today, approximately two thirds of the U.S. Federal budget is spent on
maintaining an enormous military complex, which supports a myriad of
contractors, companies and jobs. The old military elites have joined forces
with the plutocratic elite, and provide jobs for many working class Americans.
These Americans have an interest in maintaining the military-industrial
complex.
Additionally, the plutocratic elite
has made masterful use of emotional manipulation, following the old Roman motto
“Divide et impera” (which correctly translates
as “divide and rule”, not “conquer” as often reported). After the Democratic
Party broadened the popular base of American democracy by passing the landmark
Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Right Act of 1965, the plutocratic elite
saw a major opportunity to gain power and took full advantage of it. After the
Civil War, the Republican Party had become increasingly controlled by the
plutocratic elite that had enriched itself from the war and the subsequent
reconstruction. As a result, it was largely a Northern, pro-business party.
While initially in favor of government spending on infrastructure, it has
developed an anti-government position to limit the impact of regulations meant
to protect the public on commercial activities [viii].
Southern whites were hostile to Republicans, the party of the Union, and had embraced
Democrats, until they “betrayed” them by sponsoring civil rights and voting
rights for African Americans. President Richard Nixon and especially his
advisor Lee Atwater saw an opening to reverse the South’s political loyalties. With
his Southern Strategy, Nixon exploited white racism and hostility to a
government that was forcing whites to accept civil rights policies they
loathed. This strategy worked brilliantly. Southern and rural whites who had
nothing to gain from enriching big businesses in the North became unwaveringly
loyal to the Republican party, the party of the plutocratic elite, and remain
so to this date. In essence, plutocrats exploited tribalism under the form of
racism to gain political power (see my post “Why Does Racism Persist?”). This
strategy was continued with minor variations by Presidents Reagan, G. H. W.
Bush and G. W. Bush, consolidating Republican loyalty among whites [ix].
Donald Trump further reinvigorated this strategy with a particularly divisive
campaign that garnered the support of white supremacists and neo-fascists [x].
Conservatives also took full advantage of mass media, creating an empire of
right wing TV and radio stations, and eventually websites, that spread
manipulative messages meant to turn working class whites against the government
and to keep the flame of racism alive. Another Machiavellian move was dusting
off the old religious elite, and retooling it for the 20th and 21st
century. “The God Strategy”, a book by David Domke and Kevin Coe, argues that
Republicans starting with the Reagan presidency began using conservative
Christianity as a political tool to consolidate support among white working
class voters. Conservative churches obliged, and retooled their own message to
heavily support Republican causes. The “Religious Right” was born to protect racially
segregated private schools, which had become major cash cows in the post-desegregation
South [xi]. A 1970 lawsuit originating in Holmes County,
Mississippi, had led to a ruling denying charitable, tax-exempt status to
segregated religious schools. As a result, Evangelical churches started
adopting an anti-government stance. They seized upon the highly emotional issue
of abortion (although Evangelicals had not originally opposed Roe V. Wade), and
gained control over millions of “single issue” voters. Republicans coupled
their own anti-government, anti-regulation stance with a pro-Evangelical
Christianity, anti-abortion stance, and the deal was sealed. Some Christian
pastors went as far as to reinterpret scripture, preaching that material wealth
is a divine blessing, and therefore the wealthy are deemed by God to deserve
their financial advantage [xii].
This so-called Prosperity Gospel is in blatant contradiction with the teachings
of Jesus as reported in the Bible, but it has met considerable success. A
right-wing Christianity has been created that conflates anti-abortion,
anti-birth control positions with anti-taxes, anti-government, pro-wealth,
pro-war, pro-weapons, pro-death penalty views and racism in an improbable but
successful ideological concoction. The alliance between throne and altar has been
reborn under a new shape. The alliance between altar and ballot, seasoned with
a good dose of racism and Southern resentment, is a very powerful force in
American politics today.
The final prong of the plutocratic
strategy is possibly the most effective one. Although the plutocratic elite is
a numeric minority, it does control a disproportionate amount of wealth (see “A
Tale of Many Elitisms, Part 2: Plutocratic Elitism”). It can use this wealth to
buy off politicians and to fund political movements, provided that this use of
wealth remains permissible under law. Securing a conservative majority in the
Supreme Court has always been a key strategic objective of conservatives,
because Justices serve for life. This objective has been sold to the religious
elitists as a means to overturn the legalization of abortion. But a
conservative Supreme Court, through the “Citizens United” ruling, has
essentially legalized unlimited political bribing in the United States, thereby
allowing the plutocratic elite to wield its most powerful weapon without
hindrance.
And here we are today, in the
aftermath of Donald Trump’s election. The plutocratic/military elite is firmly
in control, with the support of the religious elite. Through emotional manipulation
revolving around racism, xenophobia, resentment of change and religion, it has
managed to condition large masses of people to consistently vote against their
own interest and buttress its power. The Enlightenment and the values on which
modern republics are founded are a distant memory. The intellectual elite has a
sounder strategy for the future, enjoys the support of a majority of voters and
remains responsible for the vast majority of the economic productivity in this
country and elsewhere. However, for the time being in the US it remains confined
to urban, Northern and coastal areas. The tribalism-based divide between
slave-holding economies and anti-slavery forces that existed at the beginning
of the American republic remains in place. It has morphed into different shapes
but continues to plague the republic as its original sin.
How long will this round of the
game of thrones last? What will the future elites and their relationships look
like? No one can tell for certain. However, demographic trends and the historical
tendency of plutocratic elites to overplay their hand and cause intolerable
inequalities suggest that momentum for a new phase is building. How long
this will take and what the new phase will be remains to be seen. In the
interest of the planet, I hope that reason prevails and that the worst
consequences of unrestrained, shortsighted greed are avoided. We desperately need a new
Enlightenment to preserve not only modern democracy but the very planetary habitat
humanity depends upon.
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