Power Elite Analysis

A review of two essays

     I have just encountered two essays that I feel are helpful in understanding the current political and economic situation in America.  I am always looking for good synthesis, and for basic research, and I recommend these as being good platforms from which one may develop his or her own inquiries in depth.

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     The first is an essay titled, "Who Rules America: Power Elite Analysis and American History," published at LRC in January, 2012.  It is written by Charles Burris, who is identified as a history instructor in an American high school, and active in the Libertarian Party.

     The article reads like the beginnings of a curriculum outline, and indeed could be profitably used as such by home-schoolers, life-long learners, and teachers of history at the secondary and college levels.  It is possible that one might feel the need to "balance" this very libertarian approach with other perspectives -- or not.

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     The second is an essay titled, "America's Ruling Class -- And The Perils Of Revolution," published in The American Spectator in July, 2010.  It is written by Angelo Codevilla, who is a professor of international relations at Boston University.  His work has been published in many magazines and papers. 

     His analysis of the political-spiritual situation in America is very much worth reading, in my view, despite a couple of inevitable limitations.  He begins with the Founding Generation, and briefly summarizes relevant political history up to the 2008 presidential election.  His analysis of the "Court Party" and the "Country Party" in American history is insightful and, I believe, quite sound.

     The limitations?  Ah, yes, the limitations -- inevitable, as I said.  The first limitation is as always, that we must never name, must never directly refer to, the Elephant in the room -- and I am not talking about the Republican elephant here.  Codevilla carefully avoids any reference to it.  (After all, he wants to get published.)  And so shall I.

     The second limitation is, there is not much in the essay that discusses What To Do.   Indeed:  that is because, in my view, it leads directly to a spiritual question, to which each and all of us must find the answer for ourselves.  Maybe we will be able to discover some possibilites, some Third Alternatives.

     Despite its limitations, the essay is important.  I urge a thoughtful reading of it.

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Your comments are most certainly welcome.