In our ongoing research into what the hell went wrong with America – wealth and class inequality, police-state racism and the plundering of resources at the expense of the American people – we must look not only at government but at un-elected members of private think-tanks. The Anglo-American establishment is heavy with foundations, institutes and non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) that are funded by the wealthiest individuals and corporations in the western world.
Founded in London in 1920, The Royal Institute of International Affairs is commonly referred to as Chatham House. It is one of the elite organizations that is a legacy of the Rhodes “Round Table” and has produced world leaders and steered world events. Needing an American counterpart without the hint of “Royalty” in its name, the Council of Foreign Relations was formed. The CFR was also instrumental in guiding American affairs through their meetings, publications and media, as well as a revolving door between private industry and government. Likewise, in 1973 The Trilateral Commission was founded to coordinate business interests among the elites – the ruling class of North America, Western Europe and Japan. In 1975 the Trilateral Commission released a book-length study titled “The Crisis of Democracy: Report on the Governability of Democracies to the Trilateral Commission. Used copies are available at prices ranging from $90-$300 via booksellers on the internet. At that price the book is unobtainable to me, but there is one really great summary of the Trilateral Commission’s work at a reasonable price. Released in 1980, Holly Sklar’s “Trilateralism – The Trilateral Commission and Elite Planning for World Management” is a very readable compilation of the Commission’s work by a number of different writers, including Sklar. Much of this article is based on this book.
After the awakening of the American people in the 1960’s, the country was changing fast – faster than the ruling class could control. Samuel Huntington (The Clash of Civilizations) wrote the section on American Democracy in “The Crisis of Democracy”. Other sections focused on Western Europe and Japan. Author Holly Sklar describes Huntington’s (and the Commission’s) concerns as this:
“The 1960’s are the point of departure for the Trilateral analysis. Samuel Huntington, author of the chapter on the United States describes this period as the “decade of democratic surge and of the reassertion of democratic egalitarianism. What must follow, as the Trilateralists see it, is the reassertion of elite rule and decades public apathy. Thus, domestic items on the Trilateral agenda include reducing the expectations of the poor and middle class, increasing presidential authority, strengthening business-government cooperation in economic planning, stricter press self-regulation and government oversight, and the pacification of rank and file labor”.
Huntington writes: “Some of the problems of governance in the United States today stem from an excess of democracy… Needed instead is a greater degree of moderation in democracy”.
In other words, there were just too damned many empowered groups such as women, blacks, native Americans, and college educated middle-class kids that were refusing to fight wars for the elites. To give you an idea about what the ruling class was worried about, watch this short clip of student Mario Savio speaking during a protest on the steps of Sproul Hall at UC Berkeley:
Here we see the problem for the elites; an educated middle-class that is determined to chart their own path in life, business and world affairs. Sklar writes: “…in the Trilateral analysis, the capitalist economy can only function when it responds to the needs of the ruling class of bankers, businessmen and their support group of lawyers, technocrats, and policy-minded academics. A capitalist economy cannot withstand the pressure of democratic parcipitation”. Continuing; “Huntington uses a statement by Walter Cronkite to draw a lesson from the experiences of the sixties and seventies: the lesson is that “most newsmen” are “ inclined to side with humanity rather than with authority and institutions”. The consolidation of media into fewer news corporations was to follow. The public would be instructed, along with the degrading of “value-oriented individuals” (who) “traitorously assert their disgust with the corruption, materialism and inefficiency of democracy and with the subservience of democratic government to monopoly capitalism”. “Trilateralists write “By now higher education is the most important value-producing system in society. That it works poorly or at cross-purposes with society should be a matter of great concern”. With that, the limiting of higher education would be steered to “traditionally educated white male elite”. Take a look at the cost of college today; thousands upon thousands of middle class youth graduate with education debt in the $30,000 range with no debt forgiveness or job opportunity waiting for them. PHD candidates are lucky to get service industry jobs, and middle class youth are abandoning higher education for opportunities in vocational training. For that reason, the elites have successfully resegregated the classes into the workers and the managerial class. Ditto for organized labor, which also holds a chair at Trilateralist meetings. Organized control of “organized labor” is preferable to an undisciplined, strike-prone rabble.
Holly Sklar’s compilation of writings on Trilateralist policy – including the chapters on “The Crisis of Democracy” – are somewhat dated considering the print date of 1980. However, this book clearly provides detail of how the ruling class actually does conspire to marginalize the public and enrich the elite. Nearly all of the plans to reverse the enlightened democratic urges of the ‘60’s and 70’s are coming to be.
Americans are learning to expect less out of democracy, just as planned.
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Did you know:
The Trilateral Commission was founded by David Rockefeller (Chase Manhattan Bank), legendary cold warrior (and Obama advisor) Zbigniew Brzezinski was the Commissions first Director, and Jimmy Carter was the first U.S. President fielded by the Commission. Sklar writes: “Jimmy Carter has picked no less than twenty-five Trilateralists to serve in the highest posts of his administration”.
