E.J.Dionne: Needed: A Better Ruling Class

[babylonsister]

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/needed_a_better_ruling_class_20110417/

Needed: A Better Ruling Class

Posted on Apr 17, 2011

By E.J. Dionne, Jr.

snip//

An enlightened ruling class understands that it can get richer and its riches will be more secure if prosperity is broadly shared, if government is investing in productive projects that lift the whole society, and if social mobility allows some circulation of the elites. A ruling class closed to new talent doesn’t remain a ruling class for long.

But a funny thing happened to the American ruling class: It stopped being concerned with the health of society as a whole and became almost entirely obsessed with money.

Oh yes, there are bighearted rich people when it comes to private charity. Heck, David Koch, the now famous libertarian-conservative donor, has been extremely generous to the arts, notably to New York’s Lincoln Center.

Yet when it comes to governing, the ruling class now devotes itself in large part to utterly self-involved lobbying. Its main passion has been to slash taxation on the wealthy, particularly on the financial class that has gained the most over the last 20 years. By winning much lower tax rates on capital gains and dividends, it’s done a heck of a job.


snip//


Those elites will have no moral standing to argue for higher taxes on middle-income people or cuts in government programs until they acknowledge how much wealthier they have become than the rest of us and how much pressure they have brought over the years to cut their own taxes. Resolving the deficit problem requires the very rich to recognize their obligation to contribute more to a government that, measured against other wealthy nations, is neither investing enough in the future nor doing a very good job of improving the lives and opportunities of the less affluent.

“A blind and ignorant resistance to every effort for the reform of abuses and for the readjustment of society to modern industrial conditions represents not true conservatism, but an incitement to the wildest radicalism.” With those words in 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt showed he understood what a responsible ruling class needed to do. Where are those who would now take up his banner?

[fasttense]

1. A benign oligarchy like a benign dictatorship could work.

The problem is every dictator has a blind spot or personal dislike. Those dislikes or personal whims can cause very serious injustices to the citizens of a nation.

Our current oligarchy is unfortunately NOT benign. They are like corporate raiders of a newly purchased business. They are currently stripping off the assets that We The People have built and developed. They then turn around a sell off those assets to their buddies in exchange for political power.

And I think this oligarchy has an active dislike for the people they rule. As the article states, they should realize that "its riches will be more secure if prosperity is broadly shared." But they don't realize this or care about this. Why? Because they actively hate those very same people that they rule. They pay people like Limpballs. Glen Beck and Fox to ridicule and scorn the poor they have created. They don't just want their pound of flesh, they actively devour the last tiny bit of economic meat for themselves leaving nothing but dust behind.

Oh yeah those very infrequent donations they make are just another way to get a tax write off or swindle the system like Mrs. Bush's donation during Katrina to help her son's business.

They hate us. They hate the tea-baggers. They hate everyone who isn't one of those people born to wealth or willing to be a tool of their wealth.

This country is slowly spinning down the toilet bowl. It's getting worse and worse. 1st the US Supreme Court Jesters pick our president and deny our right to vote. They rig elections and call it democracy. They devastate the economy and demand to be bailed out. They buy off everyone and anyone they want. They claim our money as their own and they crush the last breath out of those broken people they have created. When people start dying from starvation in the streets, maybe We The People will have had enough and rise up and fight back. But that's a big if.

[flpoljunkie]

2. David Cay Johnston spells it out here...

Listen to David Cay Johnston, the author of “Free Lunch” and a columnist for Tax Notes. “The effective rate for the top 400 taxpayers has gone from 30 cents on the dollar in 1993 to 22 cents at the end of the Clinton years to 16.6 cents under Bush,” he said in a telephone interview. “So their effective rate has gone down more than 40 percent.”

He added: “The overarching drive right now is to push the burden of government, of taxes, down the income ladder.”

And you wonder where the deficit came from.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/americas-elites-have-a-duty-to-the-rest-of-us/2011/04/16/AF5KN8vD_story.html

[Yavin4]

3. Ronald Reagan's True Legacy Was Convincing the Nation's Wealthy Elite to Support Regressive Elements

All societies, nations, or other collections of humans, have an elite class. Whether that elite class is there because of birth, merit, wealth, etc. They exist. The future of that society depends on how progressive the elite class leads. When the elite class is progressive, then the overall society or nation is progressive and becomes strong. For example, our founding fathers were largely progressive (with the notable exceptions of slavery and gender equality). They could have split the country into kingdoms or even formed a monarchial government, but they chose a constitutional government.


Before Ronald Reagan, the wealthy elite in this country were largely progressive, and in fact, the Republican party on many issues were also largely progressive. Affirmative Action, Planned Parenthood, the EPA, the NEA, these were all initiatives under Richard Nixon. Several prominent Republicans were in favor of the Equal Rights Amendment, and several more were strongly pro-choice. You may have heard these Republicans referred to as "Rockefeller Republicans".

Reagan convinced the wealthy elite of the Republican party to eschew progressives and instead pander to the regressive elements in our society. Pander to the bigots in the South who were on the wrong side of the Civil Rights debate. Pander to the male vote who were angry over women being given equal rights. Pander to the religious bigots, etc. In return for this pandering, these people will vote for candidates that will lower your taxes, deregulate your businesses, and destroy labor unions.

[PatSeg]

4. The very wealthy

stand to make more wealth in a thriving, prosperous society. This is just common sense. Where do they think the money is going to keep coming from? Also they can live a better, safer life in a secure, economically stable society.