What Should We Teach the Ruling Class to Do?

My line on ruling classes is that human nature programs the leaders of society to be warriors, fighting the existential foe to save the tribe from extinction.

And I say, following Nazi Carl Schmitt, that politics is about friend vs. enemy. In other words if you are in politics your game is identifying and making war on an enemy. Otherwise you have nothing to do.

That's how I understand the ruling class's current obsession with climate change and systemic racism. Climate change empowers the world's ruling class to lead to lead the whole world against the existential threat of runaway warming. Because fossil fuels. Think about it. It's really a natural, because it avoids the little problem that any problem less than global warming would mean that the enemy is some nation state: Russia or China or some such.

And systemic racism allows the educated ruling class to make war on bigots and racist-sexist-homophobes. What could be funner?

My judgement is that both climate change and systemic racism are less about fighting real enemies and more about finding something for the ruling class to fight against. Because the ruling class is political and politics needs an enemy, per Nazi Carl Schmitt.

Now, I would say that to have the ruling class fighting climate change and systemic racism is an improvement. After all, our ruling class in the last century has been in the business of world wars, starting with college president Woodrow Wilson sorting out Europe in 1917-19. And rich-kid FDR sorting out the world in 1941-45. And various warrior presidents sorting out the Commies in 1948-89.Two generations of young men were sent to war; fortunately most came back. I have come to believe that it was all ruling class conceit and baloney, but that's just me. And if our ruling class is currently all worked up about systemic racists, maybe cancel culture is better than a full-on Reign of Terror or Great Purge or Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.

But can't we think of something better for our rulers to do? Some way for them to be heroic warriors without actually having a fighting war that wrecks the economy, or a fake war like climate change that wrecks the economy.

Hey I know! How about a war on bureaucracy! A war on useless schools that fail to teach the children of "oppressed peoples" how to wive and thrive in the modern world! A war on racial quotas and DEI? But, of course, there is one little problem. These wars do not establish the ruling class as the political heroes beloved by their grateful peoples.

But just as we have progressed from leaders as actual military fighters -- as in the days of Henry V -- to politicians that leave the fighting to generals that leave the fighting to actual lieutenants and corporals, and now to the fight against climate change that has no real fighting at all, I don't see why we can't make national heroes out of guys that clean up the mess in the bureaucracy. You know, like Donald Trump promised to clean up the Deep State.

And I don't see why we can't make heroes out of the men and women that stand up to the lefty cancel culture "activists," rather than making heroes out of "activists" that are tilting at the windmills of racism-sexism-homophobia in a world where you are a complete fool ever to even roll your eyes at one of the "oppressed peoples" of whom we'eve heard tell.

This is all to say that my idea of the most heroic and noble thing in the world is not to be a warrior hero, real or fake, but a sacrificial hero, someone who sacrifices his life on the border between Order and Chaos so that the rest of us may live. I call it "A Vision of the Good Life Better Than the Left."

Hey! Sounds like a great idea. The only question is what is the Next Step.

And I have No Idea what to do next.