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Dr. Herb Ruhs & grandson
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Nothing new under the sun
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by Herb Ruhs, MD, Unknown News July 17, 2008
While the folk wisdom expressed in the "nothing new under the sun"
may not be exactly true, it is close enough.
The big propaganda
points of the last couple of centuries, in service of the interests of
concentrated wealth and power, are the ideas of progress and rule by a
legitimate meritocracy. "Progress" is always bringing us something
new to distract and mesmerize us into immobility and passivity in the
face a tremendous surge in inequality.
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Our rulers are always claiming
that their policies are the result of the enlightened thinking of the
most worthy intellectually. Pulling this trick off is mostly a matter
of playing the name game.
Sophisticated readers can no doubt name
their least favorite euphemisms of the day. It used to be called the
war department, but now it is the benignly labeled "the defense
department." It used to be called imperialism and was proudly
proclaimed as such by many political leaders in the US in the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Now it is "exporting
democracy." Egregious self-enrichment achieved through corrupt
policies are blamed on the "market," that ultimate source of
mysterious certification of crime. But by merely paying attention to the euphemism game and neglecting to look deeply below the surface of
our artificially constructed reality, we risk missing the big game
completely.
With the foundation of the US, the concept of a legitimate hereditary
nobility was trashed. No longer would hereditary power and privilege
allow for a few people with pretentious titles to monopolize wealth
and live above any sense of legal constraint.
About a third of the
population of the American Colonies were supporters of the tradition
of monarchy and noble privilege. They lost. They lost their land
and possessions and many left the former
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Just as in the days of old, if you are perceived by the ruling elite to be one of them, you can do no wrong.
In fact your status may actually be enhanced by continually screwing up, since it serves like nothing else can to advertise the impunity of power.
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American colonies for new
homes, often in British Canada.
The actual people who supported hereditary nobility may have left, but
the concept remains alive and well under new management. If you look
at the structural similarities between rule by a hereditary nobility
and today's corporate rule it is possible to identify the old scourge
by noting the salient characteristics of our "new" system of rule.
A
self-selected aristocracy now claims to justify its monopolization of
power by saying that it is a meritocracy, that it is ruling by right
of ability rather than the now-outmoded concept of divine sponsorship
(though Bush II continually threatens this slight of hand up by
claiming that he is directed by God to commit his crimes). But the
power of concentrated wealth makes a mockery of the idea of
meretricious leadership.
Just as in the days of old, if you are
perceived by the ruling elite to be one of them, you can do no
wrong. In fact your status may actually be enhanced by continually
screwing up, since it serves like nothing else can to advertise the
impunity of power.
The interlocking boards of directors of our major corporations form
the functional equivalent of a self-contained and self-serving
hereditary nobility. In the recent past it was possible for some
people of modest backgrounds to attend state-supported schools and
work their way up to the leadership of their corporations. That was
then.
Now youth of modest backgrounds are essentially barred from
receiving a college education at the "right" institutions that will
qualify them for advancement to the highest ranks. Of course, there
are still scholarship students, as I myself was (but not at one of
the "right" schools), but their
As you watch one major institution after another tank you must wonder "what were they thinking?"
The obvious answer was that they were not thinking.
It wasn't in their job description after all.
Nobility, and the progeny of nobility, such as people our elite campuses today, have a simple job description — to act always in ways loyal to their class.
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numbers are small and the function of
such programs are really to seek talented young people to fill roles
intermediate between the aristocracy of wealth and the common
people. Such prestigious education also serves to alienate some of
the brightest and most capable people from their class origins, and
help suppress any effective revolt from below by denying it leadership.
Today's CEO, CFO, and other various elite corporate rankings are our modern
equivalents of yesteryear's noble titles. Once one achieves such
noble status it becomes essentially impossible to fail, and your
children are guaranteed a place amongst the privileged.
There is no marketplace of leadership that rejects the substandard
chief manager any more. Consequently we are witnessing a truly
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amazing epidemic of cluelessness in high places. Note that when
heads do roll over policy disasters they are the heads of peripheral
and lower-ranking folks. It is characteristic of aristocracies to
protect their own from consequences of error.
As you watch one major
institution after another tank you must wonder "what were they
thinking?" The obvious answer was that they were not thinking. It
wasn't in their job description after all.
Nobility, and the progeny
of nobility, such as people our elite campuses today, have a simple
job description — to act always in ways loyal to their
class. In the rare event of someone acting as a class traitor the
consequences can be severe, but under normal circumstances the holder
of inherited power and wealth can expect to be promoted in spite of
incompetence. Consiglieres are expected to carry the weight, but
they must deal with the constant intrusion of the self-aggrandizing
egos of their masters, who always seek to shift blame for their brain-dead interventions onto the heads of the hired help.
Thus in a real sense, we have come full circle. We are now, for all
intents and purposes, back where we started in the eighteenth century
— being ruled by a hereditary class of parasites. A big
difference is that now we have no access to the likes of a Thomas
Paine. We have no influential sources of insight and inquiry to
social issues to shine a light on our troubles. Intellectuals of
integrity do exist, but they are marginalized, harassed and even
sometimes jailed, if not killed outright.
Public opinion under these
conditions is a wholly-manufactured product, designed to the exacting
standards of a corrupt self-perpetuating elite. Not that the public
doesn't know that something is terribly wrong, it is just that they
are prevented from any practical means of understanding what it is.
© by the author.
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