The New Federalists
TOM MAERTENS
Arthur M. Schlesinger's Pulitzer-prize winning history, The Age of Jackson, describes the efforts of the party of business -- in the early 19th century, the Federalists -- to co-opt the clergy and the judiciary to assure that only men of property ruled the country. They shared the conviction that society would be governed best by an aristocracy, men of wealth, who were thought to possess "knowledge, intellectual superiority, and refined social and domestic affections." Perhaps not coincidently, they were referring to themselves. Their justification was the capitalist version of the Golden Rule: Whoever has the gold, rules.
The propertyless classes, in contrast, were distinguished by "sensual excess, want of intelligence, and moral debasement." Property was indicative not only of character but of intelligence: just as now, rich people were smarter than the rest of us, even the ones who inherited their wealth.
Some clergymen, such as Episcopal Bishop Jonathan M. Wainwright, went so far as to certify the divine origins of Federalism by asserting, in 1835, that religion "recognizes and sanctions the principle of inequality in the distribution of wealth among men." That was a principle that the later robber barons -- Teddy Roosevelt's "malefactors of great wealth" -- could have endorsed.
Over time, socially conscious leaders, such as Andrew Jackson and the two Roosevelts, pushed through policies that created a middle class. The vote was extended to all males over 21 and eventually to women. A 40-hour workweek, a minimum wage, social security, child labor laws, health and safety regulations, survivors' benefits for widows and orphans, and guaranteed health care for the poor and elderly were some of their accomplishments. For supporting such measures, they were frequently reviled as "traitors to their class."
The party of business has opposed all of those innovations on the grounds that they hinder efficiency. The same claims have been made against environmental regulations as well. If a company can walk away from an oil spill; avoid paying the true costs of producing tobacco, asbestos or tetraethyl lead; dump hazardous waste into a landfill; or ignore workplace injuries to its workers, it saves money. Society ends up paying the full costs, however, in money, damaged health, or quality of life.
The current party of business has succeeded in co-opting both the judiciary and religion to an extent the early Federalists would have envied. In the first instance, their candidate was installed in office by a sympathetic judiciary that turned the law on its head to achieve its ends. But that's another story.
Bush's re-election was due in part to his success implementing the second element of the Federalist strategy: co-opting religion. Even Bishop Wainwright would probably have been surprised to hear some ministers, not to mention an active-duty army general proclaim, without a hint of irony, that God wanted George W. Bush to be President.
Political Christians like Pat Robertson and others helped persuade the electorate that morality meant opposing gay marriage, abortion, and stem-cell research (and of course, sending them money). The two-thirds of the Bible that deals with social justice is not usually mentioned. Maybe that's because Bush's policies have increased poverty, hunger, and homelessness, and skewed the tax code and the distribution of wealth toward the rich. Also absent from the discussion on morality were civil rights and the concept of just war.
John Dear, a Jesuit priest, was an exception. He condemned "the new culture of Pharisees" that denounces certain personal behavior as immoral, in order to distract us from the blatant immorality and mortal sin of the U.S. bombing raids which have left 100,000 Iraqis dead.
He added: "Most North American Christians are now becoming more and more like these hypocritical Pharisees. We side with the rulers, the bankers, and the corporate millionaires and billionaires. We run the Pentagon, bless the bombing raids, support executions, make nuclear weapons and seek global domination for America as if that was what the nonviolent Jesus wants. And we dismiss anyone who disagrees with us."
Paul Craig Roberts, a conservative former Wall Street Journal associate editor, commented about this so-called "conservatism": "In the ranks of the new conservatives I see and experience much hate. It comes to me in violently worded, ignorant and irrational emails from self-professed conservatives who literally worship George Bush. Even Christians have fallen into idolatry. There appears to be a large number of Americans who are prepared to kill anyone for George Bush. Like Brownshirts, the new conservatives take personally any criticism of their leader and his policies. To be a critic is to be an enemy."
Arthur M. Schlesinger's Pulitzer-prize winning history, The Age of Jackson, describes the efforts of the party of business -- in the early 19th century, the Federalists -- to co-opt the clergy and the judiciary to assure that only men of property ruled the country. They shared the conviction that society would be governed best by an aristocracy, men of wealth, who were thought to possess "knowledge, intellectual superiority, and refined social and domestic affections." Perhaps not coincidently, they were referring to themselves. Their justification was the capitalist version of the Golden Rule: Whoever has the gold, rules.
The propertyless classes, in contrast, were distinguished by "sensual excess, want of intelligence, and moral debasement." Property was indicative not only of character but of intelligence: just as now, rich people were smarter than the rest of us, even the ones who inherited their wealth.
Some clergymen, such as Episcopal Bishop Jonathan M. Wainwright, went so far as to certify the divine origins of Federalism by asserting, in 1835, that religion "recognizes and sanctions the principle of inequality in the distribution of wealth among men." That was a principle that the later robber barons -- Teddy Roosevelt's "malefactors of great wealth" -- could have endorsed.
Over time, socially conscious leaders, such as Andrew Jackson and the two Roosevelts, pushed through policies that created a middle class. The vote was extended to all males over 21 and eventually to women. A 40-hour workweek, a minimum wage, social security, child labor laws, health and safety regulations, survivors' benefits for widows and orphans, and guaranteed health care for the poor and elderly were some of their accomplishments. For supporting such measures, they were frequently reviled as "traitors to their class."
The party of business has opposed all of those innovations on the grounds that they hinder efficiency. The same claims have been made against environmental regulations as well. If a company can walk away from an oil spill; avoid paying the true costs of producing tobacco, asbestos or tetraethyl lead; dump hazardous waste into a landfill; or ignore workplace injuries to its workers, it saves money. Society ends up paying the full costs, however, in money, damaged health, or quality of life.
The current party of business has succeeded in co-opting both the judiciary and religion to an extent the early Federalists would have envied. In the first instance, their candidate was installed in office by a sympathetic judiciary that turned the law on its head to achieve its ends. But that's another story.
Bush's re-election was due in part to his success implementing the second element of the Federalist strategy: co-opting religion. Even Bishop Wainwright would probably have been surprised to hear some ministers, not to mention an active-duty army general proclaim, without a hint of irony, that God wanted George W. Bush to be President.
Political Christians like Pat Robertson and others helped persuade the electorate that morality meant opposing gay marriage, abortion, and stem-cell research (and of course, sending them money). The two-thirds of the Bible that deals with social justice is not usually mentioned. Maybe that's because Bush's policies have increased poverty, hunger, and homelessness, and skewed the tax code and the distribution of wealth toward the rich. Also absent from the discussion on morality were civil rights and the concept of just war.
John Dear, a Jesuit priest, was an exception. He condemned "the new culture of Pharisees" that denounces certain personal behavior as immoral, in order to distract us from the blatant immorality and mortal sin of the U.S. bombing raids which have left 100,000 Iraqis dead.
He added: "Most North American Christians are now becoming more and more like these hypocritical Pharisees. We side with the rulers, the bankers, and the corporate millionaires and billionaires. We run the Pentagon, bless the bombing raids, support executions, make nuclear weapons and seek global domination for America as if that was what the nonviolent Jesus wants. And we dismiss anyone who disagrees with us."
Paul Craig Roberts, a conservative former Wall Street Journal associate editor, commented about this so-called "conservatism": "In the ranks of the new conservatives I see and experience much hate. It comes to me in violently worded, ignorant and irrational emails from self-professed conservatives who literally worship George Bush. Even Christians have fallen into idolatry. There appears to be a large number of Americans who are prepared to kill anyone for George Bush. Like Brownshirts, the new conservatives take personally any criticism of their leader and his policies. To be a critic is to be an enemy."
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