User talk:Gaelhouse

My life experience and studies created a theory I feel constrained to share. I call it "The New Class."

Your comments will be welcomed. The New Class, an observation of western culture. - 2004

By Gaelhouse

Prior to the Bolshevik revolution society in Russia consisted of several classes, the Nobility, who with the Tsar made up the ruling class, and the ruled, the Merchant, rich, middle, and poor or Bourgeois, the Military, and the recently emancipated Serfs. Following the Bolshevik revolution a New Class, the Communist Party, emerged. This New Class, one I visualize structurally as a pyramid, became the ruling class and the party elite held the power with ruthless abandon as history has demonstrated.

Marx saw communism as leading to a new social order in which capitalism, ownership of property, and religion would become unnecessary with the ultimate development of the communist society governed by the dictatorship of the proletariat. The theoretical goal of communism was to establish a system that would emancipate the worker, to each according to his need etc. History proved otherwise, the system collapsed.

In the practical order many simply joined the New Class to obtain power, money, and prestige. By promoting the goals of the New Class, basically ruled by the elite, one had the opportunity to rise in power and prestige by moving up the structure. However, to move upward in the structure, one needed to become subservient to the mission of the New Class. In the Soviet Union those individuals outside the class served the New Class. History shows that among the upper echelons of the New Class power struggles and purges occurred to maintain the power among the elite, those at the upper levels of the pyramid. To what extent a corrupt elite contributed to the collapse has not been demonstrated

With the discovery of Americas, the European Potentates used the fiction of Discovery Title to confiscate the lands of the Indigenous of the Americas.

These Potentates colonized that new world, Africa and Asia through a created entity, the joint-stock-company and through Crown grants. These entities operated by the white European male exploited the natural resources found in the Americas, Africa and Asia and to a certain extent exploited the human capital living there by the institution of slavery.

As the age of enlightenment, as it is called, developed the Potentates lost power to more or less democratic governments formed by the enlightened elite. During the period of exploitation, the subsequent accumulation of wealth by the citizens of the new governments and countries, and with the advent of the industrial revolution in the capitalistic economic system that prevailed, the joint-stock-company morphed into the modern corporation. The corporation was given the status of "person" by the governments that succeeded the European monarchies, and while the corporation achieved a privileged status, it had no soul.

In my opinion, a New Class has come into being in the West. This New Class came to maturity in the twentieth century as corporations began to merge and grow into multinational entities. I identify the new class as Corporate Structure and visualize it too as a pyramid. Under the capitalist system the goal or mission of the New Class is to maximize return on capital, a worthy objective. While early on these corporations competed in the market place with each other, the trend now seems that they exist as elements of a giant pyramid each dedicated to fulfilling it mission.

With modern globalization, cooperate agreements and the desire to maximize the return on invested capital; the New Class now exploits all global resources including human capital. The New Class controls the resources of the world, including human capital, by controlling the legislatures and executive branches of the various governments in which the structures are incorporated, and the tyrants that control the nations that are not democratic. The elite of the New Class obtains and maintains control by the use of money.

The new elite, the upper management of the corporations, controls the Corporate Structure. Now individuals gain power, prestige, and riches by joining the New Class and moving up the management ladder, eventually joining the new elite. Joining the New Class requires the individual to promote and dedicate oneself to the mission of the New Class, maximizing the return on invested capital.

All those individual and entities that lie outside the class serve this New Class.

I make no judgment about whether the New Class is good or bad. I do point out that the new class is not accountable to those outside the class except insofar as the governments, in which the new class finds itself, or the shareholders are willing to regulate the class. While in theory the elite, are responsible to the owners, the shareholders of the corporation, in my experience they are more likely accountable to the bottom line and as long as the bottom line is good the owners couldn’t care less.

I also observe there will always be tension, and sometimes perhaps conflict, between the mission of the New Class and the interest of the workers employed to produce the commodities and services marketed by the New Class, as well as between the mission of the New Class and the interest of those outside the class, for example with the preservation of the environment in which the New Class operates and the General Welfare of the larger society. I acknowledge that there are those who are members of the class and even of the elite who share these concerns as well. It appears, however, the interest of workers and the interest of those outside the New Class are subordinated to the mission of the New Class and the self-interest of the elite.

Also, I do not believe it follows that the mission of the New Class need be opposed to the well being of the workers or the General Welfare of the larger society, or the condition of the planet. And, while some members of the New Class pay more than lip service to higher values, the behavior of many if not most reflect, maximizing the return on capital as the highest value. So far, I do not see the welfare of those outside of the New Class or the planet as a primary concern of the new elite. The rational of the new elite appears to be, "maximizing the return on capital will benefit those outside the New Class, and to the extent they accomplish the mission, they are entitled to unbridled compensation fixed by other elite of the New Class.

As an optimist and with Hope flowing from the Holy Spirit, I believe that concerned peoples outside the class, or perhaps a new paradigm will arise, that will change the structure and result in a more beneficial attitude toward promoting the General Welfare.