The Personal Website of Mark W. Dawson

The Classes of Society

Throughout history, human societies have been structured into two classes; the ruling class and the bureaucrats who support them and a lower class that provides the labor to build the society. It is only in the last three centuries that a new class has arisen: The Middle-Class. A Middle-Class brought forth by Tradesmen and Industrialization, advances in Science and Technology, and the Political Enlightenment. This resulted in a society that had three classes: An Upper-Class, a Middle-Class, and the Lower-Class. As a result of the creation of a Middle-Class, the Ruling/Bureaucratic class has morphed into a non-hereditary class composed largely of Upper- and Middle-class individuals. Such morphing has not always been peaceful, and indeed, there have been civil wars and revolutions that accomplished this morphing. A new Middle-Class that was interested in self-improvement and self-advancement, and one that became involved in the governing of society. This Middle-Class was also concerned about the Natural Rights of the people, as these Natural Rights were important in supporting and defending the Middle-Class. The bourgeois Middle-Class values of self-improvement and self-advancement, and their belief in the natural rights of “Freedoms, Liberties, Equalities, and Equal Justice for All”, were primarily responsible for the advancement and betterment of mankind.

In the past, which class you were was determined mostly by your birth, as you were born and died within your class. Some Lower-Class individuals were recognized for their intelligence and/or skills and abilities and were promoted into the Ruling/Bureaucratic Class as a reward for their contributions to society. Your status as a Lower-Class person was enforced either by societal laws or rules, the force of arms, or economic deprivation that limited your opportunity for advancement. A Ruling/Bureaucratic Class that was only interested in increasing and retaining power and enrichment for themselves at the expense of the Lower-Class. The rise of the Middle-Class, however, led to movement between the classes based on your skills and abilities, intellect, and hard work to achieve your individual goals. This Middle-Class also posed a challenge to the Ruling/Bureaucratic Class, as the Middle-Class were no longer compliant to the Ruling/Bureaucratic Class wishes and decrees, as they were aware that these wishes and decrees impacted upon themselves.

The Ruling/Bureaucratic Class has never been favorable to the Middle-Class, as the Middle-Class represents a changing socioeconomic status, a change for Ruling/Bureaucratic Class that can only mean a downward slide of power and wealth. The Ruling/Bureaucratic Class has always preferred a two-class society: an upper-class and Lower-Class. An Upper-Class in which they were members, and which banded together to control the Lower-Class, as they still needed the Lower-Class to perform the labor required to support their wealth and power. With the rise of democratic republicanism, the Ruling/Bureaucratic class was now being formed by democratic voting rather than hereditary passage. The control of the Lower-Class by the Ruling/Bureaucratic Class shifted to providing benefits of the basic needs of food, clothing, housing, as well as other benefits for the Lower-Class, in an attempt to influence them into gaining their votes and compliance to the interests of the Ruling/Bureaucratic Class. As the Lower-Class is generally risk-averse, as it may mean the loss of their basic needs, they tended to support this Ruling/Bureaucratic Class. A thriving Middle-Class, however, represents a threat to the Ruling/Bureaucratic status by their not needing government benefits for their needs, as they are self-sufficient in providing for their own needs. The Middle-Class, therefore, would not be influenced by government benefits and would vote on their interests and not the interests of the Ruling/Bureaucratic Class.

The American Revolution was a culmination of this progress in North America, as it established a government of the people, for the people, and by the people, and provided the economic foundation for the opportunity for movement between the classes. The economic foundation was the establishment of Capitalism as the basis of our economy. Consequently, Capitalism is crucial for a Middle-Class and for the movement of people between the classes, and for natural rights and self-government. The introduction of free and fair Capitalism in any society has always led to a Middle-Class and the expansion of Freedoms and Liberties for all those peoples where Capitalism was introduced. The introduction of free and fair Capitalism also had secondary effects as it increased the health and welfare, and reduced the drudgery of manual labor of all the people in a Capitalist based economy.

The history and political affiliations of these classes in America have been one of constant flux. The one constant has been for Upper-Class persons to be attracted to the party in power for the purpose of increasing and retaining power and enrichment for themselves. Political power, political connections, and political influence have always been a means to obtain and retain Upper-Class power and wealth in America. The Middle-Class was a means for Lower-Class persons to rise above their humble Lower-Class beginnings and become self-sufficient.

At the founding of our Constitution, the Upper-Class and Middle-Class were often supporters of the Federalists that supported a strong Federal government, while the aristocratic plantation owners and farmers, along with other lower-class groups were often anti-Federalists. With the gradual dissolution of the Federalist and the rise of Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans, the upper-class shifted their support to the Democratic-Republicans, while the middle-class had no organized party. With the rise of Jacksonian Democrats, this division was solidified. This Democrat Party solidification eventually gave rise to the Whigs, which represented the concerns of the Middle-Class businessmen, tradesmen, and industrialists, but which was torn asunder by the issue of slavery. With the dissolution of the Whigs, a new party was formed, the Republicans, which had a decidedly middle-class and antislavery foundation.

With the conclusion of the Civil War and the end of slavery, the Democrats reformulated with decidedly Upper-Class landowners and Lower-Class groups' interests, while the Republican party become one of the Upper-Class industrialists and Middle-Class businessmen and tradesman interests. By the turn of the 20th century, this began to change as the Democrats gained increased political power. More Upper-Class persons joined the Democrat party, and with the Great Depression, this solidified the position of the Democrats as one of Upper-Class and Lower-Class interests, while the Republican Party became one of Upper-Class and Middle-Class interests. This caused a blurring of interests between the two parties, but generally, the Democrats were Progressives while the Republicans were Conservatives in their approach to governance.  

In the middle of the 20th century, as the Democrats gained more political power, more Upper-Class persons gravitated to the Democrat Party. This widens the differences between the two parties, as the Democrats became the party of Upper-Class and Lower-Class persons, while the Republicans remained solidly Middle-Class with some Upper-Class leanings and support (usually from within the Military-Industrial complex). With the rise of bigger government in the 20th century, a Ruling/Bureaucratic Class arose composed of Upper-Class rulers and Middle-Class bureaucrats that controlled the levers of government for their own political purposes. Upper-Class rulers and Middle-Class bureaucrats that needed increased tax burdens on the Middle-Class to support themselves and their social policies of Lower-Class benefits from the government. These Upper-Class rulers and Middle-Class bureaucrats were not responsive to the issues and concerns of the Middle-Class as they had sufficient votes from the Upper-Class and Lower-Class voters to retain power.

In today’s late 20th and early 21st century modern society, the Ruling/Bureaucratic Class obtains the support of the modern Middle-Class by appealing to the Middle-Class virtuous desire to improve the lot of all people, and their guilt for the sins of the past of our forefathers. The modern Ruling/Bureaucratic Class also embraces the most successful modern Middle-Class persons and welcomes them into the ranks of the modern Ruling/Bureaucratic Class. But the virtuous desire to improve the lot of all people should be tempered as in my “Pearls of Wisdom” of “Do Good Before You Feel Good” where many government policies feel good without doing good, and rarely account for the costs and benefits of the policy, nor for “The Law of Unintended Consequences” of the policy. When thinking of doing good, you should always remember:

In the economic sphere an act, a habit, an institution, a law produces not only one effect, but a series of effects. Of these effects, the first alone is immediate; it appears simultaneously with its cause; it is seen. The other effects emerge only subsequently; they are not seen; we are fortunate if we foresee them.
- Frederic Bastiat – That Which Is Seen and That Which Is Not Seen

The law of unintended consequences, often cited but rarely defined, is that actions of people—and especially of government—always have effects that are unanticipated or unintended. Economists and other social scientists have heeded its power for centuries; and for just as long, politicians and popular opinion have largely ignored it. Most often, however, the law of unintended consequences illuminates the perverse unanticipated effects of government legislation and regulation.
- from The Library of Economics and Liberty

Life is like a double entry ledger. For everything that happens, there are both positives and negatives, especially for anything that you say or do.
- As stated in one of my “Truisms”

and

Be prepared for both the positives and negatives for anything that you say or do.
- As stated in one of my “Principles”

The above statements often work in tandem and are self-reinforcing. When examining any public policy position, you must be careful to examine both and all sides of the issue to determine the impacts on all the classes of the public policy.

As to the sins of the past it should be remembered, as in my article, “Sins of the Fathers and of Youth”, the sins against another person are only vested in the person who committed the sin, and each person is only responsible for their own words and deeds and bears no responsibility for another’s words or deeds. Therefore, guilt over the sins of the past is misplaced guilt and should not be utilized for public policy purposes. This guilt over the sins of the past should only be utilized to correct these sins in the present and to assure the “Freedoms, Liberties, Equalities, and Equal Justice for All” in the present and future. The sins of the past should not be utilized for reparations today, as I have explained in my article, “Reparations”. For the past misdeeds of our forefathers rests upon their shoulders and not ours, and the answers for the two main questions of reparations, ‘Who should the defendants be?’ and ‘Who should be the plaintiffs?’, are intractable.

When the modern Ruling/Bureaucratic Class solicits the Middle-Class for their support of social policies for the Lower-Class, it often does so by appealing to the Middle-Class virtuous desires to improve the lot of all people, and their guilt for the sins of the past of our forefathers. However, such appeals do not address the costs and benefits of the policy, nor for “The Law of Unintended Consequences” of the policy. And much of the costs of these social policies do not impact upon the Ruling/Bureaucratic Class but falls upon the shoulders of the Middle-Class.

Today, however, with the rise of President Trump’s Middle-Class populists Republican Party we may be witnessing another realignment of the political orientation of the Class of American Society. It appears that President Trump is trying to build a coalition of lower Upper-Class, upper Lower-Class, and expand his support in the Middle-Class for this new coalition. Whether this is just a cult of personality or an actual realignment, only time will tell. If it is an actual realignment, it will have impacts on the future of America and impacts that may take several decades to come to fruition. Therefore, we all must be aware of the interactions and dynamics between the classes, as these interactions and dynamics have a profound effect on the governance and functioning of American society.