Comments: So, what would happen if the middle class revolted?
I dunno. Oligarchies exist w/o a middle class. In fact, our own middle-class employers are already government agents and have been ever since they were beholden to withholdin' our income taxes and match our retirement funds. Now they must also be ICE agents, Homeland Security agents, and retirement admins. The minute they stop performing for their masters, they're gettin' a friendly visit from the knuckle-and-kneecap brigade.
It's why Jeremiah Wright preaches against seeking "middle-classness" and instead instructs his congregants to seek out government power and position. For decades he has been superbly in touch with the ascendant government class and encouraged his flock to board the gravy train ahead of everyone else.
But you, you poor schlub, ran after "middle-classness" and hocked your lifestyle to the banks, who in turn fed you to your new government masters. The Ascendant Class means to rule. They've gained power and will not give it up voluntarily. Still, I'd like to see them feed themselves without the benefit of cooperation from their subjects. Ah, but then that's what all the soon-to-be empty prisons will be for: gulags for the recalcitrant middle class.
Posted by Joan of Argghh! at August 25, 2014 7:40 PM
The people that won't even vote in a Primary election are not going to become James Bond or Jason Bourne.
Posted by tscottme at August 26, 2014 12:28 AM
But it doesn't take the middle class to wreck the card game. All it takes is a few individuals in places where they can introduce contrary orders into the computers. One doesn't even need to enter a virus.
One train master in a yard can reenter schedules causing a mess.
Pipeline valves can be opened and shut, building and releasing pressure, rupturing lines.
This stuff isn't hard, it's a matter of the right people in the proper place.
Posted by Vermont Woodchuck at August 26, 2014 6:14 AM
It is not just that these things are under the direct control of the middle class, it is that only the middle class has the remotest idea of how they work, or how to build them.
Me, I am middle class. When I was a teen, I took apart a light switch, just to see exactly how it works. If I and mine don't work, Obama, the entire staff of the NYT and Slate and their entire pig ignorant crowd sits in the dark.
Posted by Fred Z at August 26, 2014 8:09 PM
One of the things that makes the middle-class so important is their absolute aversion to rocking the boat. For this fantasy to happen you would need individuals to volunteer to be a target for The System to persecute. The defining characteristic of these nice people is they would rather move than have any conflict. Don't bet on these nice people doing more in the future than they have done in the past. We have gotten here because we all grew up AFTER the various revolutions and we don't really know or practice resistance, let alone rebellion.
This is why I beg each of us to find something small to do to begin the resistance. We aren't going from zero to rebellious in a step. The more we practice not rebelling the more difficult it becomes to start rebelling. Rebel today in some way and then recognize the world didn't end and you didn't get thrown in jail. Even if some stranger notices you are being conservative in mixed-company the world won't end. The thing most people do most of the time is do nothing. Do something, anything.
Posted by tscottme at August 27, 2014 12:37 AM
Maybe it won't be a voluntary rebellion, maybe it will be an accidental one. The middle class is addicted to a rainbow of prescription medications that can alter perception. What if VW's train master forgot to throw the track switch for the southbound Chessy 2320 out of Providence, RI and that 80,000 of muriatic acid spilled over the Potomac bridge?
Posted by ghostsniper at August 27, 2014 6:36 AM