Conservative Southern Values Revived: How a Brutal Strain of American Aristocrats Have Come to Rule

The article is interesting and make an interesting point but it is mostly rhetoric with little provable evidence to support the thesis.

That said I reply agree with an basic premise of the article on the abandonment of the GOP of some of the Puritan values that helped to shape the foundation of the country. Which was that if you make your pile of money and become set for life, than you ought to look at what is the best way that you can then give back to society. The mentality of just making more and more money because a person can, is a soulless way of thinking. Having a lot of people that think the same way be in charge is chilling. What we need is more Republicans who are really in office to look out for their constituents in the old Puritanical sense that the article covers, and we need less Republicans and Democrats that substitute pandering and payoffs for good governance.

reply to post by Grumble


It is quite an interesting article that does help put the current government into some context. I would not call it a comprehensive assessment of all the factors, but it does describe the evolving state of the political culture quite well.

The question remains, how will people like me, believers in the political traditions of the northeast, find political relevance in today's America?

The democratic process has been moving towards that of totalitarian rule as the election process is failing the public. In some ways the political landscape resembles that of bacteria in a petri dish, once the cultures have extended as far as they can go they start attacking each other. The self centred tactics of the current ruling class do provide a tactical advantage for themselves when there is a lot of complexity and chaos to work with. It is also a sign that the golden age of growth is over and social decline is setting in as increased competition for resources takes place.

It does not have to be this way, but as trust continues to break down it is inevitable. The best chance I can see to turn things around is to reinvestigate 9/11, this will clean a lot of the corruption out and give the nation the proper wake up call it needs. Otherwise it is only a matter of time until the title of dictator becomes official as the public has shown its negligence in acting.