America’s ruling elite

I’ve read a number of books and articles and online papers recently detailing the many, many failures of our government in all manner of affairs – in economic policy, military policy, energy policy, global warming policy, and many others. Of course all the authors have their varying biases, and they tend to blame all sorts of people and institutions, so it is hard to get a clear picture of exactly who did what wrong and when they did it.

But what does come through clearly through all the conflicting opinions is that the “ruling elite” of our nation – the elected officials, the career government officials, the academic experts that advise them, the senior military commanders, and the corporate leaders – are (a) largely unequal to the problems that face them, and (b) primarily focused on advancing their own careers rather than advancing the interests of the nation.

Some part of the problem is that the people who rise to the American ruling elite (or are born into it, as many are) tend to have very strong egos, meaning that they are sure they are right, are sure they are smarter then everyone else, and are fairly intolerant of opposing opinions. This leads to government, military and corporate organizations in which strong, arrogant egos rule, in which people who might have alternate views are systematically weeded out, and in which people who will “go along” with the prevalent view are promoted. This leads these institutions to a very narrow, “politically correct” view of the world.

Some part of the problem is that the ruling elite, the “old boy network” that rules America, is bound by all manner of reciprocal favors. It is no accident that corporate leaders make hundreds of millions, and then rotate into government jobs and somehow their former companies end up with billions in contracts (think Chaney and Halliburton, for example). It’s no accident that senior military officers retire into lucrative senior corporate positions in defense companies they used to deal with. It’s no accident that when legislators lose their seats they have no trouble getting lucrative positions with lobbying firms right down the street from their old legislative offices. It’s no accident that people rotate regularly between academic or Wall Street jobs and government posts. When it’s time to find an appointee for a senior government post, or a corporate CEO, leaders naturally look among their friends, neighbors, and golfing buddies. That unfortunately limits the pool to a very small subset of insiders, most of whom share the similar narrow view of the world.

Some part of the problem is that the American electorate puts up with this state of affairs. Oh yes, we get mad at the more outrageous actions and mistakes, but then we go right on and blame the other party and vote the same incompetent people right back into office, because they offer us some token benefit to buy our votes, or make some attractive promise that we all know in our hearts they couldn’t keep even if they wanted to, or just because they run under the right political party label. We re-elect people who have made terrible policy mistakes, who have been exposed as untruthful or dishonest, even some who have been indicted.

Nor, despite the election rhetoric, is there any persuasive evidence that the election of either Senator Obama or Senator McCain will change these matters much. Both are themselves part of the insider group, and in any case, the problem is more than any single elected official could solve even if they wanted to.

Of course this isn’t unique to America. The ruling elites of other nations aren’t any better, and many are much worse.

I don’t know what it will take to break up this dysfunctional system, but historically it has taken either a political revolution (which more often than not has disastrous and unintended consequences) or the fall of an empire (which may be where we are now).

In their narrow, parochial outlook and self-serving approach our American ruling elites today look uncomfortably similar to the ruling aristocrats, the “mandarins of Whitehall”, of Britain just before their empire began to decline. These British counterparts, comfortable in their myths and unable or unwilling to see the world as it really was, managed to bumble into both World War I and World War II, and lose their empire in the process. Are we headed down the same path?