THE FORKIE PHILOSOPHER

As chaotic as it seems now, the United States of America was a genuine attempt to improve on the feudal system and its aristocratic biases. They called it a noble experiment, and it was at the time. Of course you must ignore the plight of the slaves, the native Americans and the total lack of women’s rights. Maybe we’ll call it a novel experiment. They were making a serious attempt to create a new form of government and to put in place checks and balances to limit tyranny.

“We the people…” is such a powerful opening! Okay it was obviously more specific than that, but much like the French “all men…”, it just sounds better than “We the white males…” Also like the French redistribution of wealth, there was still a limit to exactly who was entitled to a piece of that pie.

I mean we can’t be giving land back to the natives or doing without slave labour; that would put huge restrictions on our profit margins, and we deserve those just as much as any aristocracy. It’s our turn at the trough!

Blatant hypocrisy aside, this was a nation far removed from the European nobility and its ingrained nepotism. “No more of these spoiled brats being born into power and privilege”. Ludicrous as that sounds now, that was what they were aiming for; or maybe just professing. Rather hard to imagine that these “men of such foresight” had no inkling that a new breed of high society would rise and embed themselves at the top of this new hierarchy.

“Protecting the Queen’s safety is a task that is gladly accepted by Police Squad. No matter how silly the idea of having a queen might be to us, as Americans, we must be gracious and considerate hosts.”

Frank Drebin “The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad” (1988)

Well maybe they were dreamers; along with being biased and possibly deceptive; but hey! They were trying something unique. Despite the true and unknowable motives of the leaders of this revolution, the majority seemed overwhelmingly dedicated to breaking the royal chains and preventing any such concentration of power from forming again.

It is totally feasible that the average white man was ignorant of the horrible injustices they were perpetrating themselves; seeing their own fight for freedom as a righteous one, while glossing over their own sins. Victims usually can’t see themselves as bullies; that sort of inconsistency can be very painful to face. Particularly on a societal level.

So, we have established that “We the people…” referred to a very specific portion of the population and that this was a sanctimonious farce. Thank you, and I’ll see you later…

No, wait! How did it turn out for the white guys who fit “the people” mould? Not much different than it did in France, it turns out. Although this revolution does pre-date, and had an influence on, the French one. Be that as it may those pesky go-getters went and got the lion’s share again soon enough.

A few centuries and several generations later we find a “new world” version of a ruling class; technically not aristocratic, yet certainly generationally entrenched and dripping with nepotism. The only difference they have with European nobility and gentry is the link between the lineage and the land. Most European elites have to go back a lot further than their American counterparts to find the era where an ancestor planted their first flag and declared “this is mine!” Everybody had to start somewhere.

A lot of European countries also have the quaint tradition of still supporting a royal family. Variations of constitutional Monarchy maintained by the taxpayers is a bizarre form of nostalgia. Keeping the royal family in luxury for the sake of tradition; their authority being mostly ceremonial. Let’s not dwell on that…in this one anyway.

Back to the USA. My understanding of the US Constitution is that one of its main goals was to prevent the kind of totalitarianism that is possible with a ruling class. Exponents praise the humility and wisdom of the writer’s; the way they admitted to the potential for any man to become corrupted by excessive power. Apparently, they devised a unique democracy with a systematic division of power that would block any one group from monopolising the authority of government.

They also seemed to lean very heavily into the whole “individual freedom” schtick. They have a real thing about liberty – and guns too. Shit, that whole “liberty or death” and “don’t tread on me” thing. The gist being that government should keep their meddling hands out of the citizens “pursuit of happiness” as much as possible, lest they provoke an armed uprising from the citizens.

The implied promise was a level playing field (for certain people) where anyone with enough business savvy and diligence can work their way up. Up to where? I mean we don’t have an upper class, right? Well, you must reward hard work and ingenuity! This is true, but what do these successful people do with their accumulated wealth? Whatever they want. Like create a dynasty and keep it in the family? Yeah, okay smart-ass, but they don’t have fancy titles and shit. You mean like “mogul”, tycoon”, “magnate” or maybe the simpler “billionaire” or trillionaire”? Fuck off!

The traditional noble class has been supplanted by the ultra-rich. The populous has their new fandangled democracy along with their elected representatives. Trouble is those congress men and women and senators are, by definition, politicians.  Spouting righteousness is essential; literal integrity is not. These people (most people) are not beyond the lure of worldly pleasures; which can be provided by any generous benefactor.

Whatever the aspirations of this high-minded political system and autonomous society were, the results show a depressingly inescapable wealth and power inequality yet again. A lot of the libertine ideas meant to curb government interference laid the groundwork for the more ruthless entrepreneurs to crush their competition and influence future legislation.

You can change the rules, but the ones who want it the most will adapt, and the wiliest of the bunch will find a way to hit the heights.