L.R. Morris, "Jimmy Carter's Ruling Class," Harper's, October 1977.
The Main Point
The basic
argument of this article is that the promise to "turn the government of this
country inside out" made by Jimmy Carter at the birth of his administration was
an afterthought during selection process of his Cabinet. As a result, the
Cabinet to the United States was made up of those who share the same values and
characteristics set forth by previous members of the "ruling class"- wealth,
self-interest, and self-preservation.
Summary
The article begins
with a riddle. "What body of Jimmy Carter's 'outsiders' has eleven heads, about
seventy cumulative years on the public payroll, some thirty corporate
directorships, and an average 1976 income of $211,000? Answer: the Cabinet of
the United States." Jimmy Carter's "outsiders" were supposed to have been chosen
from the simple Americans who have long seen the political monopoly of
government selection from the outside looking in. But the "outsiders" were
actually established "insiders" who may not have ruled through the public sector
but through the private sector-big businesses, law practices, and university
heads. This group of people to run the government is chosen because they have at
some time or another run it before. The political, social, and economic make up
leave few to argue that this indeed is a "ruling class" with great power.
Eminent Americans
The
Secretaries of State, Defense, Treasury, Health, and Housing and Urban
Development all are direct descendants of the Johnson Administration. The
Secretaries of Commerce and Labor and the Attorney General would all be
considered newcomers to power but their make up is no different than the others.
The remaining three members of the Carter Cabinet, the Secretaries of
Transportation, the Interior, and Agriculture, have all had special interests
with previous officials and now have more clout than before. The inner circle
remains intact.
The underlying characteristic above all others is money. Morris points out that without money the newly elected government officials and subsequent appointees would have no position in American politics. "The incumbent President and Cabinet are unimaginable in or near high office without money and the distinctions earned by acquiring it either for themselves or for others." The ruling class respects and accepts the fact money is the greatest social-political value, therefore, it is unchallenged in American life and government. It is so powerful that it is treated as a god and it need not even be spoken of in politics, but all will eventually feel its effects.
Money does not guarantee a distinguished political career but does allow those who have it to work in the organization who can and will decide and control politics. This lifestyle places a mark of ordinariness and dependency on this class. They are dependent on money to allow them to make them selves available to be chosen for these positions although some degree of intellect plays a part. Their predecessors, like them selves, were not the best and brightest to chose from among a large and gifted population. As Morris states, "They are just the most available, and often the least exceptionable, from among a class of institutional survivors. And once more the connecting thread of money is crucial if also paradoxical. In many ways, these people are precisely the opposite of the classic capitalist. In place of boldness, risk and innovation, they prize routine, safety, and acceptability."
Middle Management
There
are three main categories among the ruling class: organization men, President's
men, and the politicians. All were doing what came naturally from their own
lives and ambitions, to rule. Carter's Cabinet is made up of these individuals
and their place was secured by the fact that Carter, too, is one of these men.
The inbreeding in such a class never always "outsiders" to gain the leverage and
recognition to make a charge forward and secure a top position. The class is
doing just what it is supposed to be doing, being "good managers." They are
doing what is expected.
The tolerance of the ruling class by the American people saves the ruling class not only from revolution, but also from itself. They replenish themselves with an infusion of younger members that were appointed to subordinate offices. These members like their Cabinet superiors are at the most remote reaches of income and social standing. They flock to their superiors like a child does to his mother. The acts never go unnoticed. Morris states, "Patronage is the lifeblood of such candidate members. In a tiny universe where murmured opinions among the older men spur and sink careers, one does not readily ask larger questions about the character and quality of lives." Those who have ruled before will rule once again.
Polite Obscurity
"The
essence of the ruling class is obscurity-its social obscurity from the rest of
the country, and the political obscurity of its own responsibility for
government." The ruling class is divorce between "knowing and feeling." They
know that their version of American politics is painted in black and white.
There will not be any deviations from those issues that are supported and those
that are not supported. This platform provides a strange, yet accepted, form of
segregation among those who rule and those who are ruled. All energy of the
ruling class is set to keep control amongst them. Issues such as abortion and
rights of homosexuals are obscure in the minds the Carter Cabinet. Those issues
promote an "uncomfortable" feeling among the ruling class and therefore are
ignored. "The ruling class owes much of its status to the bigness of government
and to the myth of competence in institutional politics…A ruling class prefers
nothing so much, after all, as to rule."