The Rise of the Praetorian Class and a critique by a current-serving military man.
Many of you have sent me a link to The Rise of the Praetorian Class By Pete Kofod. Not having the time to critique it myself, I passed it on to several folks who are current-serving military officers and NCOs. Here is one review:
The author owns an estate (or at least significant property) in Argentina? Seriously? As if the Argentinian government's (ruling class's) depredations against its citizens aren't as bad, if not worse than, those in America?
I find that interesting.
As for his premise, well, I could argue its specific sociological characterizations with contrary examples and alternate sociological perspectives, but that would be niggling at the edges. In the main I think his fundamental premise ("The Praetorian Class is formed and grown to defend the Political Class and in time becomes the dragon that rules its master.") has some, albeit limited, merit. However, the development of the Praetorian Class is not a cause of societal decline, it is a symptom. Further, in this country at least, the militarization of the police, and the explosion of armed governmental agents, is supportive of his Praetorian Class argument, whereas the armed forces do not have a daily, direct role in the oppression of the economic class. He does not understand this contrast, lumping all into his Praetorian Class. To be sure, the American military does guarantee the system overall and undertakes the necessary foreign adventures ... but I would have respected the argument more had the author differentiated the two roles. Incipient Praetorians though they may be, the American Military is not yet an agent of government control over the citizenry.
That said, the more significant error on Kofod's part is the lack of discussion of the underlying nature of society. His class distinctions only work within an environment of Western-style 'free' democracies (in the modern parlance). Ceding this unstated assumption, nevertheless I find that his argument suffers form a lack of discussion of underlying philosophy, of the ideological premises of the Political Class vs the Economic Class. In this respect a far better perspective is gained by Angelo M. Codevilla's "America's Ruling Class -- and the Perils of Revolution" (July-August 2010 American Spectator). Codevilla's article posits the great divide in American society between the Ruling Class and the Country Class - in short the Transnational Socialists vs. Traditional Americans. These characterizations fit, with very little error on the margins, with Kofod's Political and Economic Class descriptions. Kofod's Praetorian Class is just an aspect of the Ruling Class's mechanisms of control - I do not think the characterization as a distinct class is fundamentally correct. It is but one aspect of the hangers-on and fellow-travelers of the Ruling Class.
I was disappointed that he ended the discussion rather abruptly. And for whatever reason, it seems the author has determined to get out of America and flee to Argentina (or has at least prepared a property to flee to). This does not bode well.
9 comments:
Our Presidency has evolved from the chief manager of the Executive Branch to "Leader of the Free World" within memory of some who are still living. We are only a few steps away from a true "I Am America" imperial presidency. Note a very recent article in "The New York Times" (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/world/middleeast/faceoff-with-iran-complicates-obamas-re-election-campaign.html) seemly advocating that Obama govern the country based on how his decisions affect his re-election, as opposed to how it affects the country. Note also that the military per-se does not need to become the new Praetorians if the militarization of the police continues, or if Obama gets his wish of establishing a "civilian force" outside the current military structure yet rivaling it in power. Many places that Obama seems to admire have a unitized national police structure and/or one organization that is both military and police, or a two part military structure, one operating abroad and one internally as the old USSR did.
".....the American Military is not yet an agent of government control over the citizenry."
Unless the recent NDAA gets used to make it so.....
Fleeing to Argentina has merit if, and only if, you have enough money to 'smooth' the way into whatever neighborhood/province you want to join. Our perspective from a neighboring country, to which we have not flown, but currently reside in, is that Argentina could have a lot of benefits at least as a transition country if things blow up here but we'd want to be as far as possible from Buenos Aires.
The problem is that Argentina has a high level of systemic corruption, failure of government, etc. Ref. what Fer-fal has written for more info. IMHO fleeing to Argentina betrays a person's dedication to the ethics and way of life that he claims to hold dear.
Anon @ 6:18 is on to something. I think that Koford and his friends believe they have enough money to buy protection from the powers that be in Argentina, but not enough to buy it in the U.S.
They're not Praetorians, they're Janissaries.
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Jannissary
The "..underlying philosophy" of America is freedom and Liberty for all.
What we have now is a very systematic destruction of freedom and liberty at gun point, while the ruling class spouts platitudes about freedom and liberty and constitution and bill of rights, all the while murdering and dissecting them.
And of course, it's not an organized plan or anything like that! Even though you could plot it out on a sand table and follow every coordinated movement.
Yes! I'm a believer! This did not happen by accident.
Where did it say in the article that the author intends to escape to Argentina? The introduction mentions that he owns property there, but that's about it. The article doesn't even talk about leaving the country, just some generic remarks about winding down commitments. People own property all over the world for numerous reasons.
Kofod's rigid separation between the classes (except for upper classmen in the Praetorian Class moving into the Political Class) was a little too textbookish. The world is a little more complex than those rather simplistic distinctions. Codevilla's analysis was more in depth in examine the distinctions between the Ruling Class and the Country Class. The more realistic scenario is which side will the Praetorians choose?
President Foodstamps has recently announced the pending layoff of up to 80,000 servicemen in his desire to prop up the obese nanny state by shifting money from the DOD to liberal pet projects. Bad form in keeping Praetorians happy and knowing who is more capable of buttering their bread.
Not long after taking office, The One screwed GM stockholders to curry favor with the UAW. Among the screwies were police retirement plans. Again bad form from a Political Class needing Praetorian protection from Economic Class rebellion.
Operation Fast & Furious also reveals the sheer incompetency of the current Political Class in maintaining necessary good relations with Praetorians needed to secure the Political Class' hold and growth of power. Through their sneering, arrogant contempt of anyone outside their class, the Political Class has gotten people killed including one of their (Praetorians) own.
The real danger to American liberty is the control and power the Political Class has over national fiscal policy. President Downgrade is driving the country to a Greece sized ditch at ramming speed. When we hit that ditch will determine where Praetorian loyalties lie. My theory is most Praetorians have no use for the Political Class, but do have an underlying belief that liberty is worth fighting for. That's a different base from third world toilets where Kofod's theory maybe more applicable - such as the one he's bought property in. We aren't a third world toilet - yet. The key to preventing that scenario is to cut the federal government off at the knees before its too late.
I, too, disagree with the concept of an emergent Praetorian class.
In both the short run and the long run, these folks are no more secure in the new world order than you or I. Proof of this is that returning veterans have already been designated potential domestic terrorists. If that's not a loud enough warning, the deaths of Jose Guerena and Brian Terry should erase any remaining smugness...
On a day to day basis, the military and (particularly) the civilian enforcers are indeed above the law as it applies to us. They clearly DO look out for each other and enjoy little discounts wherever they go, but in the eyes of the bankster elites these useful idiots are just pawns.
They have yet to understand that the police state always applies to ALL pawns.
BTW, this comment cracked me up: "The problem is that Argentina has a high level of systemic corruption, failure of government, etc."
Might as well just stay home, eh?
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