Chris
08-11-2014, 04:41 PM
As I posted elsewhere today, it's heartwarming to see Reps and Dems, establishment Reps and Dems that is, joined together....
For years, we’ve read a lot of stories about “anti-establishment” Republicans “attacking” their “mainstream” opponents. But the mainstream media narrative rarely runs in the opposite direction.
The coordinated ruling class surge against constitutional conservatives who don’t know their place gained force last week with both serious and farcical attacks on its presidential contenders. Rand Paul got the viral video treatment for a gotcha moment at an Iowa fundraiser for Congressman Steve King (R-IA)–a compliment of sorts for the senator regarded by many as “Democrat’s Enemy #1.” Senator Paul’s offense is his ability to draw some of the Democratic base off the Progressive reservation. Meanwhile, Ted Cruz continues to inspire a monthly attack piece for being a traitor to his Ivy League-educated class (and harboring a diabolical plan to take over the United States by burning bridges and/or building bridges).
...
In our era of bad feelings, the one thing that seems to produce good feelings among establishment Republicans and Democrats is their mutual disdain for small “r” republicans.
While conflict is natural to man as a political animal, more problematic is the establishment belief in its divine right to govern, which it is bad form to challenge, much less overthrow....
...
When James Madison defended the republican character of the House of Representatives, he contrasted the relative purity of the American system with that of the British. Although the House of Commons had 558 members in his day, fully half of this number was elected by a grand total of 5,723 people (of a total population of 8 million). “It cannot be supposed,” Madison argued,
That the half thus elected, and who do not even reside among the people at large, can add anything either to the security of the people against the government, or to the knowledge of their circumstances and interests in the legislative councils. On the contrary, it is notorious, that they are more frequently the representatives and instruments of the executive magistrate, than the guardians and advocates of the popular rights.
This was the British ruling class of 1789. The American ruling class of 2014, of course, is superficially different: there are no rotten boroughs in the United States. But if each House member represents about 750,000 voters, there might still be half who “do not even reside among the people at large”–more creatures of Washington, than any hometown constituency–and serve the “executive magistrate,” rather than act as “the guardians and advocates of the popular rights.”
...
The 2014 primary season is drawing to a close. The establishment has proven its willingness to do whatever it takes to hold on to power–and, for the most part, they have won.
Insurgents should celebrate their victories, study their defeats, and, even as they see the current election cycle through, begin to prepare to have the fullest slate of strong candidates possible in 2016. Game on.
@ What The Founders Tell Us About The GOP’s Ruling Class (http://thefederalist.com/2014/08/11/what-the-founders-tell-us-about-the-gops-ruling-class/)
For years, we’ve read a lot of stories about “anti-establishment” Republicans “attacking” their “mainstream” opponents. But the mainstream media narrative rarely runs in the opposite direction.
The coordinated ruling class surge against constitutional conservatives who don’t know their place gained force last week with both serious and farcical attacks on its presidential contenders. Rand Paul got the viral video treatment for a gotcha moment at an Iowa fundraiser for Congressman Steve King (R-IA)–a compliment of sorts for the senator regarded by many as “Democrat’s Enemy #1.” Senator Paul’s offense is his ability to draw some of the Democratic base off the Progressive reservation. Meanwhile, Ted Cruz continues to inspire a monthly attack piece for being a traitor to his Ivy League-educated class (and harboring a diabolical plan to take over the United States by burning bridges and/or building bridges).
...
In our era of bad feelings, the one thing that seems to produce good feelings among establishment Republicans and Democrats is their mutual disdain for small “r” republicans.
While conflict is natural to man as a political animal, more problematic is the establishment belief in its divine right to govern, which it is bad form to challenge, much less overthrow....
...
When James Madison defended the republican character of the House of Representatives, he contrasted the relative purity of the American system with that of the British. Although the House of Commons had 558 members in his day, fully half of this number was elected by a grand total of 5,723 people (of a total population of 8 million). “It cannot be supposed,” Madison argued,
That the half thus elected, and who do not even reside among the people at large, can add anything either to the security of the people against the government, or to the knowledge of their circumstances and interests in the legislative councils. On the contrary, it is notorious, that they are more frequently the representatives and instruments of the executive magistrate, than the guardians and advocates of the popular rights.
This was the British ruling class of 1789. The American ruling class of 2014, of course, is superficially different: there are no rotten boroughs in the United States. But if each House member represents about 750,000 voters, there might still be half who “do not even reside among the people at large”–more creatures of Washington, than any hometown constituency–and serve the “executive magistrate,” rather than act as “the guardians and advocates of the popular rights.”
...
The 2014 primary season is drawing to a close. The establishment has proven its willingness to do whatever it takes to hold on to power–and, for the most part, they have won.
Insurgents should celebrate their victories, study their defeats, and, even as they see the current election cycle through, begin to prepare to have the fullest slate of strong candidates possible in 2016. Game on.
@ What The Founders Tell Us About The GOP’s Ruling Class (http://thefederalist.com/2014/08/11/what-the-founders-tell-us-about-the-gops-ruling-class/)