Our American Monarchy

By William L. Garvin

This isn't about the current resident of the White House who laments that he's only the President of the United States, not the "Emperor of the United States."  It isn't about the supposed Constitutional scholar who boasts "If Congress doesn't act, I will" and threatens that he will write a bill and Congress will have to vote on it.  It isn't about the fact that he unilaterally defines laws as unconstitutional and orders the Department of Justice to refuse to defend them as he did with the Defense of Marriage Act.

This isn't about him promising to "work tirelessly" until every American had a job then dashing off to Florida to play golf with Tiger Woods on a private course closed to even the press.  It isn't about his $1,000 per hour golf lessons while his wife spirits off on another multi-million dollar ski trip in Aspen.  It isn't about the nouveau riche jet setting that exceeds the travel budget of Britain's royal family and would have made the Gatsby's jealous.  After all, four years from now, they will have packed their bags and moved on.  Metaphorically speaking:  "The King is dead; long live the King."

No, this is about the permanent aristocracy, the Congress.  Presidents come and presidents go but "the institution" retains its members as if they had a lifetime employment contract.  Maybe it's because they do.  Despite having only an eighteen percent current approval rating, there is little danger of being fired.  Over the last century, ninety percent of incumbents were reelected.  In 2004, for example, 396 of the 401 House of Representative incumbents running for reelection succeeded.  In the Senate, 25 of the 26 incumbents won their races.  It's probably just coincidental, but that year incumbents in the House outspent their challengers by an average of $700,000.  In the Senate, challengers were down by $4 million dollars in the money ball game.  With the additional advantage of visibility and the subsequent name recognition, along with taxpayer funded staff and organization, the King may be dead but the King's Court is alive.  It doesn't matter if you're a convicted liar, thief, tax cheat, or mentally unstable, you can and probably will be reelected.

With that in mind, the permanent ruling class feels "entitled" to confer special privileges upon itself.  It lavishes health benefits and retirement perks upon itself that the serfs, the peasants, the workers, the taxpaying citizens can never afford.  It profits on insider knowledge which results in the accumulation of wealth that far exceeds the salaries that they earn on the books.  Their cozy relationships with lobbyists often result in sinecures on boards and corporations should they ever be voted out or choose to retire from the government gravy train.  They also exclude themselves from the laws they foist upon the country class, the little people, those they think need Big Government to assist them in every aspect of their daily lives.  In reality, they act in an antithetical manner to the self-anointed noblesse oblige they affect on stage.

Naturally, the aristocracy needs a herald to incessantly proclaim honorable motives to their continual meddling (and their failures!) and to cover up the continuing expansion of their power and their kingdom.  That is the designated role of elite education and elite media.  Move along, nothing to see in "Fast and Furious."  Move along, nothing to see in Benghazi.  Don't worry about the Muslim Brotherhood ruling Egypt or Iran gaining nuclear weapons.  Move along, there will never be a negative impact from "quantitative easing" and the Fed pumping $40 billion each month of freshly printed money into the economy.  Never forget that Fox News, talk radio, the Tea Party and conservative principles are likely to be the ruin of America.  Don't worry about national debt, trillion dollar deficits, unemployment numbers, everything is just peachy keen!   "Don't think twice, it's alright."

The court wouldn't be complete without the jester, aka "the fool."  That is the low information voter who is incapable of separating fact from fiction.  They are the voters who are completely ignorant of government processes, our American history, the rule of law, personal responsibility, limited government and basic economics.  The traditional liberal education in arts, science and the humanities has morphed into an expensive, unemployable, progressive propaganda brainwashing.  Increasingly reliant on government, the low information voters will soon outnumber the voters who work and pay taxes.  The tipping point in America may soon result in a permanent American monarchy.