Angelo Codevilla died in a car accident about a year ago. I casually followed his writings over his last ten or 12 years – say from the time he hit retirement age until he died at 78. As an academic, his specialty was the history of spycraft. Moving into the general area of observing American government, he was observant and without equal. Here’s an excerpt of how he saw things:
“The polls quantify what any observant person can see: the division between the Ruling Class and the Country Class has overwhelmed that between Republicans and Democrats. When pollsters ask the American people whether they are likely to vote Republican or Democrat in the next presidential election, Republicans win growing pluralities. But whenever pollsters add the preferences “undecided,” “none of the above,” or “Tea Party,” these win handily, the Democrats come in second, and the Republicans trail far behind. That’s because while most of the voters who call themselves Democrats say that Democratic officials represent them well, only a fourth of the voters who identify themselves as Republicans say the same about the Republican officeholders. Hence our rulers, both Democrats and Republicans, gladden the hearts of some one-third of the electorate—most Democratic voters, plus a few Republicans. This means that Democratic politicians are the Ruling Class’ prime legitimate representatives, and that because Republican politicians are supported by only a fourth of their voters while the rest vote for them reluctantly, most are aspirants for a junior role in the Ruling Class. In short, the Ruling Class has a party: the Democrats. But some two-thirds of Americans—a few Democratic voters, most Republican voters, and all Independents—lack a vehicle in electoral politics.
Sooner or later, well or badly, that majority’s demand for representation will be filled.”
As I think back on Karl Marx, Codevilla also looks at class conflict – but a class conflict that isn’t associated with the means of production. In Karl’s day, most of the working class (the proletariat) weren’t represented. Codevilla’s comment that “two-thirds of Americans lack a vehicle in electoral politics” shows why we have folks who coalesce around a Trump or a Perot. If you would like to look at some of Codevilla’s articles, you might click on muckrack.com
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