After the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Benjamin Franklin was asked whether America had a republic or a monarchy. With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, "A republic, if you can keep it." (1)

Well, have we? Have we kept it? Or have we, as some believe, developed a ruling class?

This election season, John Ellis Bush (Jeb) ran for the Republican nomination. Mr. Bush's brother and father both had held the office of the president, his grandfather was a senator and Jeb's son, George P. Bush now holds elected office in Texas. Three generations of public service gives a whole new definition of "service", doesn't it?  

"What have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" the woman had asked Dr. Franklin.

Growltiger is beginning to wonder.

In July, 2010, Dr. Angelo M. Codevilla, Professor Emeritus, Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston University, published the following: "As over-leveraged investment houses began to fail in September 2008, the leaders of the Republican and Democratic parties, of major corporations, and opinion leaders stretching from the National Review magazine (and the Wall Street Journal) on the right to the Nation magazine on the left, agreed that spending some $700 billion to buy the investors' "toxic assets" was the only alternative to the U.S. economy's "systemic collapse." In this, President George W. Bush and his would-be Republican successor John McCain agreed with the Democratic candidate, Barack Obama...The public objected immediately, by margins of three or four to one."

Fast forward five years to June 16, 2015, when real estate magnate, Donald J. Trump announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for the presidency. Although Mr. Trump was and is the CEO of a billion dollar enterprise, he was immediately dismissed as a clown, a "reality television star", a bumbling blowhard and a joke. "He's not serious!" many claimed. "He's only trying to get publicity," was another meme. "He won't release his financial records," went another.  The nastiness directed at Trump was comparable only to the nastiness he directed right back at those who disparaged him which in turn made those calling him a fool and a clown carp that he wasn't being "presidential". "...the major corporations, and opinion leaders stretching from the National Review and the Wall Street Journal on the right to the Nation on the left", came out against him.

We the People loved it. Mr. Trump rose in the polls. "It won't last," intoned the sages. Smart money was on Jeb Bush who had $120 million of special interest money in the bank. "Trump will be  gone by September," they consoled.

September came and went. Our betters moved Mr. Trump's "die by" date to December. Christmas passed and Mr. Trump trudged on, continuing to lead in the polls. Iowa brought a great sigh of relief. Trump came in second. "He'll be gone after New Hampshire," they whistled past the graveyard, ignoring that Mr. Trump had finished second in Iowa, there were reports of some dirty tricks being played by the Cruz campaign against Dr. Ben Carson, that Ronald Reagan also had lost Iowa and Trump still led in New Hampshire.

After Trump won New Hampshire and South Carolina, former Republican presidents George H. W. Bush, the father and George W. Bush, the son, former Republican presidential candidates John McCain and Mitt Romney, Speaker Paul Ryan, Senator Lindsey Graham, Governor Nikki Haley all locked arms with Democratic President Obama and potential Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, to denounce Mr. Trump.  

As Dr. Codevilla had pointed out in 2010-- "No prominent Republican challenged the ruling class's continued claim of superior insight, nor its denigration of the American people as irritable children who must learn their places."

"A republic, if you can keep it."

For an example of how the ruling class feels about those who make up the voting electorate, Growltiger recommends readers access Bret Stephens's article published in the Wall Street Journal in August, 2015. (2)  The Tiger cat has referenced this article repeatedly to point out how in his frenzy of panic and hysteria, Mr. Stephens telegraphed exactly how he (and probably his fellows in the ruling class) feel about the unwashed masses, and how by doing so he accidentally tore off the carefully crafted mask these people have been wearing all these years exposing the ugly face(s) that lie beneath.

"A republic if you can keep it."

Have we? Did we?

"Never has there been so little diversity within America's upper crust," Dr. Codevilla writes. "...Not only has it (the ruling class) burgeoned in size and pretense, but it also has undertaken wars it has not won, presided over a declining economy and mushrooming debt, made life more expensive, raised taxes, and talked down to the American people. Americans' conviction that the ruling class is as hostile as it is incompetent has solidified." (Readers should keep in mind that this article was written six years before Donald Trump entered the race).

Dr. Codevilla goes on to point out that in the past, prominent people gained their money and status from different sources and were not predictably of one mind on any given matter, however, today they speak with one voice and that "America's ruling class... rules uneasily over the majority of Americans not oriented to government."

"A republic if you can keep it."

Dr. Codevilla observes that "while most voters who call themselves Democrats say that Democratic officials represent them well, only a fourth of the voters who identify themselves as Republicans tell pollsters that Republican officeholders represent them well...In short," he states, "the ruling class has a party, the Democrats. But some two-thirds of Americans-a few Democratic voters, most Republican voters, and all independents-lack a vehicle in electoral politics. Sooner or later, well or badly, that majority's demand for representation will be filled."

This, dear readers, is where Donald Trump comes in.

"A republic if you can keep it." Can we? Or will the Republican leaders who refused to attend the Republican convention join with their ruling class fellow Democrats in an effort to elect a fellow member of the ruling class to the presidency.
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(1) http://www.ourrepubliconline.com/Author/21

(2)http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-donald-and-the-demagogues-1441064072

Those who want to read the entire Codevilla article can access it at:
http://spectator.org/39326_americas-ruling-class-and-perils-revolution/