Understanding the Elites
Or "Searching for Nasty Critters Rooting Under the Porch" (from my latest for the American Spectator)
I know the feeling: you experience the daily assault of social wackiness and cultural insanity that has now become the norm in the secular age, and you ask yourself: is this the same place I was in just a few years ago? Do they actually believe this stuff?
To answer these questions, I examined the foundational ideas beneath our current societal structures. To put it another way, I crawled under the house to hunt for loathsome and harmful critters capable of destroying it. Let me explain.
When I was a little boy, my Aunt Eva (pronounced “Ain’t Ee-ver,)1 who reared me, would see evidence of “armor-’dillers” (translate: the “armadillos,” “the little armored ones” in Español) rooting in the yard. This was bad enough, but if these filthy creatures from regions of Central and South America (likely stow-aways on trade vessels from the Caribbean islands) were brought here, unchecked and undocumented, their mischievousness would lead to more serious long-term consequences. So, Aunt Eva would say, “Mike, these thangs are invaders. They are not from here (they formed the first waves of illegals to come from the former Spanish colonies). And, Son, we got to get rid of them. If they’re messing up the yard like this, then they’re gonna end up burrowing under the house and digging at the cornerstones that hold this old house up. I want you to crawl underneath the house and tell me what you see. Then, if we know they’re under there, I will get those Sibley boys to get ‘em out (for reference to “the Sibley boys,” see the pro bono critter-removal crew from Newhart memorialized by their introduction: “Hi. I’m Larry, and this here is my brother, Darryl, and this is my other brother, Darryl”). And on numerous occasions, I would do just that. Often, I would crawl under, fulfill my spy mission, reemerge from the cool dark underworlds, and stand like a grubby little solder reporting to a commander: “Aunt Eva, they are under there alright. And they’re up to no good.”
This morning, I’m offering an article that I wrote this week after having crawled up underneath the old house (it is really not new after all) of the Secular Age. I want to stand before you, brush myself off, and report my findings. I would begin with this: “Folks, there are some nasty critters underneath our house. And they are up to no good.”
The “Gilded Age?” An Excursus on the Article
I want to point out an important distinction. An “age” is a designation offered (often assumed through common usage in repeated discourse) to distinguish it from what came before and what might follow. Such an expanse of time (e.g., the “Age of Exploration,” the “Gilded Age”) is described in anthropomorphic language. Thus, someone reading Mark Twain’s Gilded Age (1873) or even F. Scott Fitzgerald, at the conclusion of that period, might have remarked, “The Gilded Age was a time in American history when extravagant wealth supported a selfish propensity for over-indulgence.” That reflection would land pretty close to the bull’s eye for a subset of Americans residing in Upper Manhattan from the 1880s through the early years of the twentieth century.2 However, such a description would be meaningless for the average family from Sacramento, California. However, attorney Leland Stanford, Sr., Esq. (1824–1893) went from bankruptcy in Albany, New York, to becoming a railroad baron (who helped to foot the bill for the Gilded Age back east). and, then, the eighth governor (and first Republican governor) of California, his life was hardly similar to the transcontinental socialites like the Astors, Roosevelts, and Vanderbilts. Mr. and Mrs. Stanford lost their son to typhoid in 1884. They memorialized their son by founding a university. “Leland Stanford Junior University – still its legal name – opened Oct. 1, 1891.” Financial hardships returned to the Stanfords like a virus. They could no longer afford to bankroll the fledgling school
despite Jane, that is, Mrs. Stanford, working every day in all kinds of capacities. A man who would be president, Herbert Hoover, stepped forward and provided a donation that would keep the doors open and educate countless students. That is the story of Stanford University and the Hoover Institute.
Nor did those working for Mr. Stanford and their families get invited to high tea at Mrs. Astor’s home at 350 Fifth Avenue (now the address of the Empire State Building). They lived and died by the sweat of their brow in places like the Salinas Valley (where their indomitable spirit and resiliency, if not occasional shenanigans, would inspire the future Pulitzer and Nobel Prize-winning author, a student from Mr. and Mrs. Stanford’s school, a certain young Mr. John Steinbeck, 1902-1968, to write of their lives). However, the phrase “Gilded Age” is useful to mark the early twentieth century. Of course, an “age” is incapable of refined over-indulging. People do these things. And the space and time they inhabit are categorized by their very human choices, for good or bad. So, when we speak of a Secular Age (popularized by the Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor’s Magnus Opus of the same name), we are speaking of an observable era with a beginning (and, eventually, a conclusion of one kind or another) that is marked by a loss of a consensus about meaning. Until recently, people in Western civilization made individual, familial, and societal decisions acting on a commonly held understanding of morals and ethics derived from a Judeo-Christian worldview. But an old elitism rid of the old Monopoly millionaire top hat and tails and newly outfitted with skinny jeans and a hip t-shirt with a nice tat design is here to save the day. Postmodernity (and I write of how we got here in From Flanders Fields to the Moviegoer: Philosophical Foundations for a Transcendent Ethical Framework [Wipf and Stock, 2019]), by design, left a gaping hole in the fence. “Mercifully,” the Elite has arrived to fill the gap and reengineer the auxiliary class (the auxiliary class constitutes the mid-management class in Platonic Utopianism that I call the flunkies; they support the elite’s continuing power through statecraft or even The Stasi while sedating the unwashed masses (through entertainment, academia, and even a subservient religion). Their public administration plan is the Utopian vision: Statism by any other name. Get power. Hold power. At any cost. Then, run the thing through class division. It’s pretty nasty, alright. I guess I’m saying that “even the Sibley boys won’t go under there to get those things out.”
Whence Cometh Classes?
Here is what I found. This journey takes us back to ancient Greece, before Christ. While it is not the origin, it is where these ideas were first succinctly cataloged. This humble unmasking exercise aims to show that actual decisions and choices are being made—often malevolently—to bring about the outcomes we see today. This is not so much a conspiracy as it is a consensus. Those who have abandoned the Judeo-Christian worldview and the foundations of Western civilization that expanded and improved upon pre-Christian ideas are acting consistently with their own values and goals. I aim to help you understand the categories and the overarching vision driving much of what we are witnessing today.
And all of this is worth it because we want this house to stand for those who come after us.
I pray to God that this little essay from my studies will help someone as we all navigate our way through this new age. It might feel like an endless maze—that is just what they want you to think—but there is a way out, and there is a way through.
“And. ye know the way . . .”
This appeared this morning in The American Spectator. I offer it to my readers and pray it will be of some help.
Final Thought
Note: Because The American Spectator is a subscription-based publication, some articles may be accessible while others may not. I cannot guarantee successful access to an article or predict when a “pay wall” will block access.
We are preparing to release a white paper containing a more comprehensive version of the article and related information. We anticipate that the white paper will be accessible to our subscribers in the next few days. So, this is as good a time as any to warmly encourage you to subscribe to our newsletter at no cost. This will guarantee that you receive not only the upcoming bonus insights and articles but also this current one. The societal paradigm we locate is capable of helping folks locate the reasons for the otherwise unintelligible decisions of the Left. Even more, I pray the self-guided journey to truth will also lead you to the Person of Jesus, who rewrote human history with His life, ministry, death on the cross, resurrection from the dead, and a Kingdom growing from the inside out.
(The American Spectator does not compensate contributing writers for op-ed pieces, and I do not earn any income from publishing the article. My goal is to promote the principles outlined in the publication.)
The following is a summary of the article:
Summary for the Op-ed: "Being Herd: Understanding How the Left Views Society" by Dr. Michael A. Milton
The American Spectator for Saturday, June 22, 2024:
Dr. Michael A. Milton's article explores the political philosophy of the Left, which is rooted in historical class divisions and elitism. He traces these ideas back to ancient Greek democracy, particularly Plato’s hierarchical vision of society, which laid the groundwork for modern leftist ideologies. Milton highlights the Federalist and Anti-Federalist debates in early America, reflecting the Founding Fathers' concerns about preventing class divisions.
Milton discusses Sir Karl Popper’s critique of Plato’s class system, arguing that Plato’s ideas inspired Marxist and Communist doctrines, which modern leftists aim to implement by undermining Judeo-Christian Western Civilization. He categorizes society into three classes: the elites (guardians), the flunkies (enforcers), and the human cattle (masses).
The elites seek to maintain power through deception and control, disregarding meritocracy and manipulating the masses. Flunkies support the elites by indoctrinating the next generation and ensuring mass dependency. The human cattle are kept docile and dependent, manipulated by technology and entertainment.
Milton emphasizes America's exceptionalism, which is rooted in classless systems that favor individual freedom and hard work. The author calls for vigilance against those who seek to impose elitist control and rejects claims to preserve American values of liberty and equal opportunity.
I realize that this is a digression on an excursus, which is to say, it is quite possibly “an assault with repeated blows.” But for those interested in the varieties of English dialect, as I am, the hard “r” endings are the rhotic sounds of the “Carolina dialect” distributed (and retained) by way of land-grant expansion after the American Revolutionary War to include the Mississippi Territory, from French Louisiana to Spanish Florida. Today, the dialect is retained with minor variations from what is now, starting West and moving East—the Amite River of Louisiana across southern Mississippi, southern Alabama, and north Florida, then turning upward and eastward of the Blue Ridge Mountains, on across the Piedmont, and to, roughly, the North Carolina-Virginia border. American dialect is a product of human migration patterns. The Carolina dialect (or just its accent) is one of the oldest in North America. Originating from the Yorkshire Dales to North Umbria and including the border country of England and Scotland, the accent is often distinguished by the burly rhotic sound but includes other particularities that are still heard in both the New and Old Worlds. It is interesting to see filmmakers or actors speak “Southern.” Mistakenly, the unstudied participants seek to mimic a “Southern accent” by defaulting to the non-rhotic versions that developed along the major port cities from Wilmington to New Orleans. If you'd like to explore further, check out this comprehensive bibliography from the scholarly journal article: Virginia Meirelles, “Rhotic and Non-Rhotic English in the Early Republic: Social and Geographical Distribution,” published in Lingue e Linguaggi 56, no. 0 (May 6, 2023), pages 259–276, https://doi.org/10.1285/i22390359v56p259.
H. Wayne Morgan, “The Gilded Age,” American Heritage 35, no. 5 (1984): online version, https://www.americanheritage.com/gilded-age.