Lux Lucet

The Arrogance of Rehoboam.

“How shall I answer these people” asked the young king as he looked about the veteran faces of the men who had counseled his father before him. The king, you see, was in a bit of a pickle. He had just been confronted by a group of men angry about his father’s policies of heavy taxation and forced labor. They had demanded a rollback of these unpopular policies, and the new king, wanting to start off his reign on the right foot, had sent them away, asking that they return in three days time for his answer.

The king’s father, a man famous for his wisdom in his own day, was not a lone ranger. He had assembled a group of able men who served as his advisors. Today, we might refer to them as his cabinet. And these cabinet advisors were now faced with a history making question. “How do you advise me to answer these people?” That was what the king wanted to know. Upon their answer, and the king’s response, hung the fate of the nation.

The atmosphere, no doubt, was pregnant with anticipation. What would the counselors say? Perhaps taking a moment to consider their words, the men gave their reply. Their answer was this, “If you will be a servant to these people today, and serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.” Good words, these. The nation was at the breaking point. My way or the highway was not going to work, and they knew it. What was needed was wisdom, prudence and a gentle spirit.

But the king? Well, that was another matter. He knew what he wanted to do, and it did not involve what, in his mind at any rate, amounted to kowtowing to a bunch of malcontents. That would show weakness! “Serve the people?” “Speak good to them?” you can almost hear the young king saying to himself. “Surely, they must be joking. Maybe that sort of thing worked in my father’s day. But this is a new world we live in, and silly notions of that sort just won’t cut it anymore.” Rejecting the advice of his father’s wise men, old fuddy duddies that they were, the king turned instead to his friends. They were young, not a graybeard in the group. They were the new wave. Cutting edge. Recipients of the best education, wearing the finest clothing, and unencumbered by the old fashioned and unrealistic notions of his father’s friends, these were just the sort of men whose advise the nation needed.

So when he had assembled his friends, he repeated the question he had earlier put to his father’s men. “How shall I answer these people who came to me saying, ‘Lighten the yoke which your father put on us’?”

“Well, well, well,” you can almost hear them thinking. “So these no-good northern rebels actually have the gall to come here asking avors from us. Just who do they think they are? Whining and complaining about not getting their fair share, that’s always what they’re about. It’s time to put them in their place”

“Here’s what you should say to them,” they answered the king. “You go tell those no-goodniks this: ‘You thought my father was bad? You don’t know the half of it. I will by no means lighten your yoke. In fact, just like pharaoh, I’ll add to it. And if you don’t like what I’m doing and try to fight me, ha, just go ahead and make my day. Then you’ll really going to find out who’s in charge around here.’ ”

“Now that’s more like it,” thought the king. “It’s about for someone to teach hose malingerers proper respect for my royal authority. They complained and rebelled in my father’s day, and now they’re pulling the same stunt with me!” “It’s time to nip this nonsense in the bud once and for all.”

So it was, on the third day, the northern delegation came and met with the king. And the king answered them roughly, in the manner advised by his friends. The people tried to plead their case, but the king was done listening to them. When it became clear they weren’t getting anywhere with the king, they finally told him, “In that case, we’re done with you. Away with your threats and your taxes. From now on, we’re taking care of our own business.” And out they walked, never to return.

Of course, it’s not like a king to just let his subjects walk out. That’s not how it works. “They owe me their taxes,” he thought to himself, “the state’s budget depends on their taxes, I’ll be sure to wring that money from them, even if I have to take it out of their hides.” So the king sent his revenue officer to the rebel to collect the taxes, his version of the IRS. But things didn’t quite go according to plan. The rebels stoned him. And when the king heard it, he fled in his chariot and made plans for war.

The king assembled his army. It was an impressive sight by all accounts. Eighty thousand men, warriors all, stood ready to march at his command. But as it turned out, the mission ended before it even began. A prophet, one of those raving mad-men, stepped in and told the king and his army to turn around go home.

As the king sullenly returned to his palace, one can only wonder at the confusion and frustration he must have felt. Was not he not the rightful heir to the throne of his grandfather David? How is it that some no-name upstart like Jeroboam could take half his kingdom and get away with it? This isn’t fair!

The Destruction of the American Establishment

The story above is based on the Biblical account of Jeroboam’s rebellion against king Rehoboam, third in the line of Davidic kings, son of Solomon and grandson of David. Rehoboam had every advantage a king could want. No one could have had a more impressive lineage. And he was heir to a dynasty God himself had established. The nation was prosperous. Yet for all that, he showed little of the wisdom evidenced by his royal predecessors. Arrogant and rash, his words sparked a rebellion that would permanently split Israel into two rival kingdoms, setting the stage for two centuries of intrigue and war. How much blood would be spilt and capital destroyed as a result of Rehoboam’s failure to heed good council is known only to God.

In many ways, Rehoboam’s story is the story of the American establishment. Following WWII the US stood tall as the leader of the free world. While most of Europe was digging out from the rubble of the war, America basked unscathed in the glow of victory. It’s republican, small government traditions had been damaged over the previous sixty or so years, that much is true. But still, there existed a general sense that the governed and the governors were one people. Debt was low, prosperity growing. It was morning in America.

Today, such is no longer the case. We have become, not one nation under God, but two nations sharing the same territory. A nation of rulers and a nation of the ruled. Things have been heading in this direction for some time, but the current presidential election cycle has made patent a growing trend that for years has been latent.

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Hampton, New Hampshire August 14, 2015. REUTERS/Brian Snyder 

To date, Donald Trump has proven to be the most disruptive figure, the candidate who has been most effective at tapping voter resentment. Brash and at times vulgar, he shot to the top of the polls last summer and has held that spot ever since. But to say Trump is atop the polls and leading the delegate count really is to understate what is taking place. From where I sit, it appears that Trump is more than a candidate, but the leader of a movement. Trump is the bull rampaging through the establishment’s well manicured china shop, and the reactions of his supporters and his opponents is absolutely fascinating to watch.

Bruce Bartlett, form advisor to Ronald Reagan and Bush administration US Treasury official.

If nothing else, Trump’s candidacy has revealed the utter contempt many in the establishment have for ordinary Americans. Take for example an article that appeared on CNBC this past week written by former Bush administration official Bruce Bartlett. In his rant, the establishmentarian Bartlett, a form official with the US Treasury, practically foams at the mouth as he spews forth slander against, not some foreign enemy bent on destroying the nation, but against a large swath of the American voting public. That is to say, his fellow Americans. Bellows Bartlett,

I believe that Republicans made a deal with the devil in 2009 when they embraced the Tea Party, a populist group who were just mad as hell and weren’t going to take it anymore. In Congress, the Tea Party has been aggressive in destroying all the norms that made it work for more than 200 years.

The government was shut down, increases in the debt limit are constantly at risk, nominations to even the most minor administration positions are blocked and, now, the president has been denied the opportunity, which is his right under the Constitution, to name a new justice to the Supreme Court.

Flush with such “victories,” extremists of all shapes and sizes were attracted to the Tea Party ranks – Christian religious fanatics, gun nuts, anti-gay bigots, nativists opposed to all nonwhite immigrants, secessionists, conspiracy theorists and, of course, racists.

What binds them together is hatred. Hatred of government, yes, but also hatred of liberals, minorities, homosexuals, non-fundamentalist Christians, environmentalists, feminists, and many other groups.

Good grief! What possible reason could there be for such an outburst? If I had to venture a guess, I would say fear. Fear of losing pelf and power. Fear of being discredited. Perhaps even the fear of a guilty conscience.

While I do not count myself a Trump supporter, I can understand why many people are. And their concerns are not those of bigots, kooks and wing nuts, as Bartlett would have us believe. On the contrary, regular Americans have good reason to be appalled at the lying, theft and arrogance that have come to characterize America’s ruling class. Rightly or wrongly, they see Trump as their champion, a tool for pushing back against the all too real abuses suffered by the middle class at the hands of America’s power brokers. Bartlett’s rant, written by an establishmentarian and published on a mainstream website, simply strengthens their argument that the establishment does not have their best interests at heart. And it would be hard to argue with them.

The American establishment, represented here by Bruce Bartlett and CNBC, has a lot in common with Rehoboam. Both are possessed of an inflated opinion of themselves, both have a barely hidden contempt for ordinary citizens, and both see the people as milk cows whose principle purpose in life is to underwrite the costs of big government. How dare they stand up for their own interests. Their job is to pay up and shut up. They have no recourse. They have no say.

By way of example, in 2008 Bartlett was one of those arguing for the odious Wall Street bailout. In a New York Post
editorial published on September 8, 2008, he advised that, “everyone should hold their noses and vote “yes” on the bailout.” And who was it who paid for that bailout? Many of the same people he derides in his inexcusably slanderous column published by CNBC. From his language, it is very clear that the principle target of Bartlett’s rage is white middle class people. The sort of folks who work hard for a living, pay their bills, file their taxes and see their sons killed in wars started by neoconservatives and crony capitalists, the better sort of people with whom Bartlett rubs elbows and whose interests he defends. And like a modern day Marie Antoinette, he just cannot bring himself to understand why they are unhappy about any of this.

When considering the vileness of the language Bartlett used in his column, it’s worth asking whether it is even remotely acceptable to vilify any other group of people the way Bartlett vilifies his arch enemies, the white middle class and blue collar voter. We all know the answer to that question. It’s a resounding no. And perhaps therein lies the explanation of Trump’s success. His supporters are people whom Bartlett and friends have treated with utter contempt for decades. Is it any wonder why they might support someone who actually appeals to their interests and doesn’t treat them like gum stuck on the bottom of his shoe? If they complain about their treatment, Bartlett lectures them. If they don’t vote the right way, Mitt Romney castigates them. Who is in their corner? Trump, for all his flaws, has tapped an underserved market, ordinary Americans.

Perhaps if Bartlett took a few minutes to come down off his high horse and actually talk to regular Americans – be a servant to these people today, and serve them, and answer them and speak good words to them – he might find out that his countrymen aren’t the eyeball-in-the-middle-of-the-forehead-freaks he imagines them to be, but real people with real concerns who deserve to be taken seriously. It would be nice if that would happen. Perhaps it will. But on the other hand, if Bartlett and his fellow power brokers continue on their current path, they likely will learn a lesson of a different sort. To quote Rehoboam’s father, “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18).