A little over a century ago, September 16, 1920, to be exact, a horse-drawn wagon packed with 500-pounds of dynamite exploded outside the headquarters of the J.P. Morgan & Co. bank on Wall Street. Thirty people were killed instantly and another ten died from their wounds. Over 100 other people were injured. The bombing was never solved, but everyone assumed it was done by anarchists. Anarchist terrorism was becoming common over the prior decade.
One consequence of the bombing was the federal government got serious about the communists and anarchists in the country. They rounded them up and deported them even though they could not pin the crime on them. The elites also gained a new perspective on immigration after this bombing. All of a sudden, letting anyone walk into the country was not so popular with rich people. Not long after, immigration was sharply curtailed, especially from Southern and Eastern Europe.
The incident is a good reminder of the reality of politics. Things that vex the people will be ignored until they begin to threaten the rich people. The bombing of the Los Angeles Times building in 1910 did not register with the ruling class, because the people running the country lived on the East Coast. The terrible impact of immigration on the working classes was considered a feature by the wealthy. When the reality of immigration landed on their doorstep, their attitudes quickly changed.
Another example from the last century was medicine. For most of human history the best medicine was money. Rich people avoided the general fifth of society and they could avoid what passed for medicine. More people were probably killed by doctors than disease as hospitals were disgusting and until the 20th century, germ theory was unknown to doctors. Avoiding hospitals and having a private doctor, along with better food and sanitation was what kept rich people healthy.
The 20th century started to change that reality. The rich and poor packed into cities which meant that disease loads were much higher. The Spanish flu, for example, hit all classes of people, not just the poor. It also struck young people, which made it even more frightening. Polio was another scary disease. It had been around since forever, but urbanization made it more common. Numerous urban polio epidemics began to appear starting in the 20th century.
All of a sudden, polio was causing panic and civil unrest, as epidemics in major cities were reported by the mass media. Despite the fact most infections were mild and only a tiny number of people suffered long term effects, polio became a scary thing. One big reason for that is rich people were getting sick with polio. Unlike most plagues, this was not just a disease for the rabble. Polio was not sparing the wealthy. Just like that, finding a solution to polio became a top priority.
Public health is another good example of how the ruling class acts only when it serves their interests. Industrialization brought urbanization which brought disease to the doorstep of the rich. Unlike in the feudal order, the rich needed to be around the poor, who worked their factories and maintained their cities. Being near filthy poor people living in their own slop was dangerous, so the ruling classes set about improving public health and sanitation in the urban areas.
Politically, the ruling class of any society operates as Jeremy Bentham imagined all people would act if permitted. That is, the rich are motivated by the desire for pleasure and the avoidance of pain. Discharging their duties is avoided until not doing so promises more pain than pleasure. They are only ever moved to act on behalf of the greater good when they feel pain. This is especially true in liberal societies, which select for sociopathy in the political class.
Counterintuitively, it means that the only real way for people in a liberal democracy to get the attention of the political class is to threaten their lives. We saw this last January when a very peaceful group toured the Capitol. Within hours the city was turned into an armed camp. The same people who claim drug crimes are impossible to police and make excuses for black violence were suddenly able to find every last protestor and lock down the city for months.
This is something to keep in mind when wondering when the lunacy of the Covid panic will come to an end. Right now, it is great fun for rich people who are not required to play along with the loons. The politicians have to participate in Covid theater, but in private they think it is just a big goof. They take pleasure in mocking the crazies and their ornamental face gear. They think it is hilarious that the masses just go along with the ridiculous measures that serve no purpose beyond humiliation.
This nonsense ends when the ruling class decides it ends and that happens when the cost to them gets serious. Economic trouble is one obvious way the cost quickly becomes intolerable. That may be what lies ahead in 2022, as another round of Covidian theater craters a struggling economy. Someone taking a shot at one of these provincial politicians is another possible wakeup call. Organized resistance is unlikely, but a localized “event” is certainly possible.
Regardless, reason and reality are not going to end this lunacy. For the rich it is just an amusing game of human chess. For their servants in political office, it is a way to pretend their lives have meaning. Of course, there are plenty of stupid people willing to degrade themselves in order to feel like they are part of something. What puts the brakes on this dynamic is when the war comes home to the rich people. Until they start to feel the pain, Covid mania is a feature of life in the West.
It is an interesting lesson in the reality of democracy. Since democratic government selects for sociopathy, the result is a government that is far less responsive than allegedly autocratic systems. The dictator or king can be motivated by a sense of duty to his office or his legacy. Elected officials are motivated purely by pleasure and pain and they are extremely low in empathy. It turns out that democracy works only when the people are prepared to use violence.
This may be why democratic systems precede autocratic ones. It is not that mob rule becomes unreasonable, but that violent mob action becomes the only reasonable response to the indifference of democratic rule. The mob hangs their elected officials and the rich are suddenly moved to act by installing a dictator who will address the concerns of the masses. In other words, democracy is not mob rule but rule by sociopath, which is remedied by the strong hand of leadership.
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Heard the story of a man who was enormously successful and wealthy in his career. He got older, as everyone does, and his kids had no interest in taking care of him and he ended up in a home. The last few years of his life were marred with the indifference and brutality of the nursing home staff, even though this was supposed to be one of the “good ones”. If diversity continues, these rich whites will realize that all the money in the world will not make people care about you or even treat you like a human being if they just see you as a bag of money they have no connection to.
Rest assured, the same scenario is going to trickle down to standard medical care, and no amount of money will give them competency or empathy. They are going to be just as willing to put a billionaire in that lung destroying ventilator as a homeless hobo. It’s “standard of care”, after all.
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There are home health care agencies that provide a decent level of care at a high cost. The ultra rich can afford this, although who knows how much longer these companies will be able to find competent staff as well. The people who have the power to stop this craziness don’t end up in any nursing home, even the “really good ones” they turn their homes into their own nursing home.
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I am surprised you didn’t quote Jefferson, blood of tyrants and all that.
Maybe Biden’s statement yesterday that Covid will have to be handled more by the states shows a shift or movement to the next stage of our destruction. It boggles my mind that no nut or group has not acted violently like the government prods them to do.
As far as the war on the working class, this can not end well. This is the only part of America that keeps the infrastructure intact, repairs things and unfortunately has the intelligence to expect to be paid reasonably for what they do. Oh, and not to be hated by ingrates.
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My point and hope is the coming autocrat will be much more representative/responsive of/to the people than our current crew of dirtbag ruling psychos. We are in desperate need of a ruling class culling.
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This is the type of essay that, in the Olde Days, would be reprinted and posted everywhere for the people to read and discuss.
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“What puts the brakes on this dynamic is when the war comes home to the rich people.”
The Laissez-faire attitude towards crime is boomeranging on The Rich and Powerful:
“Beverly Hills residents arming themselves with guns in wake of violence”
https://nypost.com/2021/12/09/beverly-hills-residents-arming-themselves-after-murder-violence/
“Two Dems who support police reform carjacked less than 24 hours apart”
https://nypost.com/2021/12/23/two-democratic-lawmakers-carjacked-less-than-24-hours-apart/
“Oakbrook Center mall reopens Friday as police search for gunman after 4 injured in shooting; 2 in custody”
https://wgntv.com/news/oakbrook-center-mall-to-reopen-friday-as-police-search-for-gunman-after-4-injured-in-shooting-2-in-custody/
The last one struck home as when I lived in Silly-nois, Oak Brook, IL was where the “Old Money” lived, and Oakbrook Mall was where they went to shop. Diversity from Cook County drove out to Oakbrook Mall at least four times in the last month to loot, and lately shoot, amongst the wealthy and Upper Middle Class.
It’ll be interesting seeing the Coalition of the Fringes figure out how to square the circle of Rich Folks not wanting Diverse Folks to rob them, while Diverse Folks don’t want to get arrested for doin’ what comes natural.
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“Two Dems who support police reform carjacked less than 24 hours apart”
I have to admit that I got a kick out of that one. I love it when the “White people don’t do anything right, non-White people don’t do anything wrong” ilk get proven wrong.
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The movie “Ragtime” shows the J P Morgan bombing.
I was/am surprised the elite have intentionally destroyed so much of their own assets, during covid. They truly are insane.
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They have assets to spare.
They bought on the stock market dip from the initial shut downs and have gotten even richer. Putting small businesses in a distressed situation also allowed them to pillage their assets and real estate as well. It is almost like they planned the whole thing.
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Generally speaking, peoples of European heritage are creatures of innovation, because that is what their environment required of them in order to survive and thrive. And that trait profile is of critical importance going forward. The fish rots from the head. The remedy will necessitate innovation, and the modeling is quite clear. They fear the bolt from the blue simply because they know it will work. And when it begins, emergent behavior will arise and instigate an exodus stampede faster than anyone can imagine. And in the end, less harm, pain, and destruction overall. One caveat, wait for the fog. The probability of success jumps up two orders of magnitude.
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The Ruling Class has a Covid problem.
The Biden bot announced yesterday that it is “up to the states” to deal with Covid and the virus suddenly is not a federal issue. While Fauci has called for mandatory vaccinations to fly, the Biden bot has said that’s not going to happen. And therein you see the split.
Roughly a third to one-half of the Left has been psychologically broken by Covid. They cannot give it up. Their masters, on the other hand, have started to feel a bit of economic pain over it. The wealthy can afford anything but it has to be available, and that no longer is a given. Further, their inflated assets may begin to deflate next year as a consequence of Covid-related policies having to come to an end to try to decrease the money supply. They are ready to exit the Covid Train and move on to Climate Change or another way to grift and manipulate the madness.
So what happens when a third to one-half of the Left is psychologically unable to give up the masks, give up the vaccinations, give up Lord Fauci? They have to be reined in, that’s what happens. It will not be pretty. Don’t rule out even little Jonestowns here and there, and mayors at odds with their fellow leftists in the central government. It has the promise to be quite a show. The Ruling Class has set into motion forces it can control only by the most violent and/or authoritarian methods available. Karen as the new Ashli Babbitt? Don’t discount it.
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Unlike in the feudal order, the rich needed to be around the poor, who worked their factories and maintained their cities. ———-The dictator or king can be motivated by a sense of duty to his office or his legacy.
So which is it? In feudal society the baron and his family were in daily contact with their subjects and knew many of them personally. They basically ate the same foods, celebrated the same holidays and lived in the same general squalor. As the peasants had obligations to the baron, he had responsibilities to them. The biggest change that came with the industrial revolution and capitalism was social mobility. In a feudal world a peasant was likely to remain one his entire life, as were his progeny. That’s the great gift of capitalism, that some bozo that would have once been fit only to hoe the baron’s turnips could eventually become a middle manager for a construction contractor or an insurance salesman, not only surviving but perhaps even prospering in a sense. The idea of climbing the social ladder was one of the most important reasons for the lowest classes of Europe to immigrate to the US, just as it is today for others.
Originally, the immigration of peasant descendants to the US consisted of farmers, needed to displace the native Americans west of the Mississippi. Since agriculture no longer requires armies of “unskilled” labor, their offspring have joined the blue collar and management ranks. Their attempt at increased social status has been a success. There is no dirt under their fingernails.
Pointless gainsayer is back! You should use your Christmas money to get your reading disability looked at by a professional.
That the rich can, and often do, go to any lengths to have their cake and eat it too was described by a friend, a professional arborist and tree man. He dealt exclusively with the “East-side” clientele, where old money and quite a large contingent of nouveaux riches opt to live. He mentioned that the process of getting these folks to settle their accounts was laborious and exhausting, taking months or even years, with legal action often required.
When asked why he didn’t expand his service to areas where blue collar folks– who were wont to pay their bills–lived, he replied that there wasn’t enough money involved.
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I thank Z for helping me to come realize what I always felt deep down but never really bothered to delve down deep into, and that is that democracy is ridiculous
I have to wonder how many teachers and adults around me growing up also felt the same but went ahead mouthing the platitudes out of habit and plain old courtesy and convenience.
For the pedants out there, yes I understand that we are a republic and not a democracy. But republic is to democracy is what a chastity belt is to a whore, or a face mask is to Hannibal Lecter. A regulation that could never hold and would always prove flimsy.