Follow the rats

Washington, D.C. of the 1960s was a pleasant place to grow up and had much to offer. Four seasons to enjoy the outdoors, the Smithsonian, other museums and art galleries and the majestic halls of government. Years later Chelsea Clinton and the Obama girls would go on to attend the same school I did (as did Amy Carter, surreptitiously), but tony would not have been an apt descriptor for the Sidwell Friends of the 60s and 70s. Richard Nixon, good Quaker that he was, sent his daughters there, as did a number of his henchmen and lower-level minions. The parents of many of my friends and classmates were elected officials or served at the pleasure of an incumbent regime. This resulted in the periodic repopulation of one’s neighborhood and classroom as the American electorate perpetuated the endless cycle of turning the incumbent bums and lying skunks out of office. Winners from previous elections were routinely packed off, as promised chickens failed to appear in pots and Happy Days were, in point of fact, not here again.

New faces would arrive in town, no promises were left unmade and the cycle would begin anew. There were durable politicians to be sure, but D.C. is generally a town of transients. With 2010 midterm elections just days away, predictions are for a run on For Sale signs in the D.C. real estate market as another sorry lot is turned out. Republicans, buoyed by recent, massive and record turnout early voting by white males, are anticipating huge gains in Congress, and at the gubernatorial level as well, interpreting this as a referendum on an activist Congress’ profligate spending and what is perceived as Obama’s social engineering. The Democrats chalk this up, ho-hum, to the usual mid-term, anti-incumbent sentiments held by the governed.

I remain unconvinced it matters who’s in control in Washington. The last thirty years have given rise to an entrenched and surprisingly non-diverse political class and Ruling Elite, and any differences at the core of these groups lie more at the degree and gradation of beliefs, rather than at a purely ideological level. The Ruling Elite and its functionaries show remarkable similarities in background, education and patterns of ascendency, as well as tastes, habits and avocations and subscribe to the same social canons.

Regardless of political orientation, Elitists hold identical views on the role of government and the need for Americans to be ruled and told what to do. In the service of government, many of the Elite blend into and out of the private sector or academics, many with no job experience outside of government whatsoever.

Colorful and controversial figures dot the political landscape from time to time, but their fleeting celebrity does not confer membership among the Ruling Elite: academic and service pedigrees too lackluster, perceived accomplishments too meager, ideas and personae too extreme. Quirky Ross Perot was at one point in the 1992 presidential elections favored over both Clinton and George H.W. Bush, before his movement lost traction and he faded away to become just a footnote in American political history. Similar fates will befall the current pretenders who aspire to Ruling Elite status.

Today’s conservative faithful are galvanized by what is perceived as Obama’s foundering and a socialist legislature run amok, but the Republican Politburo itself seems infested with the walking dead: Nonviable and un-electable, they exist to work the rubber chicken circuit, raise funds and to hector the disciples.

Chief among such zombies is Newt Gingrich. The other day I received a call from a Gingrich operative announcing my recognition as a “Champion of Medicine” for my tireless efforts to drive a stake through the heart of Obamacare. Who knew? For the consideration of several thousand dollars, I could join Newt himself up in D.C. on election night over dinner and hear my name read as I received my award.

Wear a dark shirt so you’ll look good on TV, Newt’s man told me. Sorry Newt, I am not a Republican, and academic medical pay scale doesn’t furnish that type of discretionary income, not to mention that I wouldn’t ever give you a nickel. Asked by NBC’s Matt Lauer what federal program, entitlement or apparatus of the government the GOP would cut in the event of landslide Republican victories, with control of both Houses, the former Speaker of the House couldn’t name one, preferring to ramble about welfare reform at the local level and take on things such as workmen’s compensation.