"The Origins of the Overclass" - mandatory reading, imho, if we're going to seriously dissect

[scarletwoman]

present-day U.S. capitalism and propose serious remedies. (bear in mind that this piece was written in the 90s -- Steve Kangas died in 1999 )

The Origins of the Overclass

By Steve Kangas

The wealthy have always used many methods to accumulate wealth, but it was not until the mid-1970s that these methods coalesced into a superbly organized, cohesive and efficient machine. After 1975, it became greater than the sum of its parts, a smooth flowing organization of advocacy groups, lobbyists, think tanks, conservative foundations, and PR firms that hurtled the richest 1 percent into the stratosphere.

The origins of this machine, interestingly enough, can be traced back to the CIA. This is not to say the machine is a formal CIA operation, complete with code name and signed documents. (Although such evidence may yet surface — and previously unthinkable domestic operations such as MK-ULTRA, CHAOS and MOCKINGBIRD show this to be a distinct possibility.) But what we do know already indicts the CIA strongly enough. Its principle creators were Irving Kristol, Paul Weyrich, William Simon, Richard Mellon Scaife, Frank Shakespeare, William F. Buckley, Jr., the Rockefeller family, and more. Almost all the machine's creators had CIA backgrounds.

During the 1970s, these men would take the propaganda and operational techniques they had learned in the Cold War and apply them to the Class War. Therefore it is no surprise that the American version of the machine bears an uncanny resemblance to the foreign versions designed to fight communism. The CIA's expert and comprehensive organization of the business class would succeed beyond their wildest dreams. In 1975, the richest 1 percent owned 22 percent of America’s wealth. By 1992, they would nearly double that, to 42 percent — the highest level of inequality in the 20th century.

How did this alliance start? The CIA has always recruited the nation’s elite: millionaire businessmen, Wall Street brokers, members of the national news media, and Ivy League scholars. During World War II, General "Wild Bill" Donovan became chief of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner of the CIA. Donovan recruited so exclusively from the nation’s rich and powerful that members eventually came to joke that "OSS" stood for "Oh, so social!"

(more at link -- MUCH more -- please read the whole thing!)

My own thought is that if there is to be such a thing as a Socialist Progressive movement (or Progressive Socialist -- I think I prefer the latter...), then first we ought to see clearly all the aspects of the entrenched system that we are up against.

It's not just the capitalism, it's the entire concept that certain people feel that they are entitled to dominate and assert control over others. That they assume they are entitled to act as they please without regard to anyone else's well-being, that their will to power and their will to accumulate wealth is sufficient justification to inflict suffering on other beings.

In a broad philosophical sense, I see the battle between "capitalism" and "socialism" as a microcosm of the universal human tension between ego-gratification and altruism -- between selfishness and selflessness.

Both aspects exist as parts of human nature. However, if we are to persist as a species, living free and fulfilled lives in our ecosystem, it would seem to behoove us to move toward a greater emphasis on the altruistic side of our natures.

I say this as a longtime believer in the possibility of the evolution of human consciousness.

sw

[Cleita]

1. Thanks scarletwoman. I need to catch up on this.

Bookmarked to be read when I get a chance.

[scarletwoman]

2. You're welcome! Thanks for the reply! (nt)

[Cerridwen]

3. I've bookmarked for reading this later.

Danged work! It gets in the way of all my fun! :D

Thanks for posting this.