Barrring any major upsets in the Democratic nomination process, it looks like this election is going to come down to Bush vs. Kerry. Rich, white, male, Yalie-and-Bonesman ® and rich, white, male, Yalie-and-Bonesman (D). I predict this will call some new public attention to the nature of the American class system. To start with, the Skull & Bones organization will come under a microscope as it never has before in its long history. Things might expand from there, as Skull & Bones is a distinctly upper-class organization, and its existence reminds us of a fact we usually prefer to ignore: that America has an upper class which is for most purposes its ruling class. If Americans ever start to really think about that, as a political issue, things will start to change. Your thoughts?
I am hoping this topic comes up at one of the presidential debates. Then we can watch as both Bush and Kerry leave the room, as required by tradition whenever the words “Skull & Bones” are mentioned.
Last election had the same thing (2 rich white male Ivy Leaguers), and it didn’t call attention to the class system. Wait? What class system? Hands on ears: Na na na na na na na na na na na.
Yes, we all want to hear lurid stories of drunken frat boys chanting nonsense in phony rituals.
Why isn’t it an issue in parts of Europe where politicians are drawn from more narrow backgrounds?
Sorry, don’t meen to harsh on your Waiting for Godot Marxism, but the revolution ain’t coming today. (It will surely come, though, so keep waiting.)
It’s all paranoid BS, if you ask me. The Illuminati connection pretty much clinches that.
You mean Presidents and politicians generally come from upper-class backgrounds? Holy shit, that had never occurred to me. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
The only unusual thing here is that they both went to Yale. The rest are standard for Presidential candidates and hardly rare in politics. Nobody cared in 2000, when the contest was Harvard vs. Yale.
The footnotes to FI’s cite:
Damn fine research, that is.
May we take it that http://www.biblebelievers.org.au is a credible source in your eyes?
Are you saying that the information is incorrect? I’ve seen that in numerous other places.
Ummm, no; see how it works is that when you make the claim, you provide a credible source. You (IMO) failed to do so and I pointed it out. That’s all.
Yes, yes, of course the presidential election is always between two rich white guys – but they are not always of upper-class birth. Clinton wasn’t. Neither was Reagan, Carter, Nixon, Johnson, Truman . . . I really think it does make a difference, to have two WASP mandarins in the same race; and the fact that both belong to the same elite club just adds emphasis.
I’d like to nominate this thread in the category “Thread name that most sounds like the title of a gay porn movie.”
But it IS an issue in Europe! The undeniable existence of a ruling class in most European countries is one of the factors that keeps socialist politics alive there, to a degree inconceivable in the U.S. (I’m not a Marxist, by the way; a democratic socialist, yes, but not a Marxist.)
So if a generation of socialist politics has left them with even more of a class system than we have, we’re supposed to emulate them? You seem to operate under the assumption that socialist politics will lessen the power of any “ruling class;” I see no evidence for that.
If the US is closer to being a classless society than most of Europe is, could it not be because we refuse to think in terms of “ruling class” and to see everything through the lens of class conflict?
Is it perfect? No. But 6 of the last 10 presidents were from middle-class or lower backgrounds, and I can live with that, and so can most Americans.
A much more balanced article on the Skull and Bones and George W. from the Atlantic Monthly: http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2000/05/robbins.htm
The OP asks about thoughts about 2 bonesmen running for President. All your replies seem to ignore the question. Two candidates, running for the same office, BOTH comitted to a secret organization that we are not allowed to know about. Does their allegence to the Skull and Bones superceed their oath to the nation? We don’t know. They won’t let us know. Hence ‘secret’. Personally, I don’t think any politician, especially should hold any membership secret. What if he held a secret membership in the NRA? Wouldn’t you want to know? Now, what if he holds a secret membership to a secret organization, that we aren’t permitted to know about??? Does that sound scarry at all?
Let’s see some of the wonderful stuff that Skull and Bones members have implemented:
Averell & Mary Harriman created the Eugenics movement in America. Yay! Mass sterilizations of the poor and racially undesirable. Executions of the insane, criminal, and terminally ill. Fun stuff.
Continuing their racist eugenics - Harriman and Prescott Bush directly supported the Nazi’s. Another yay for the Bonesmen. This one you can take Cecil’s word for:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/030214.html
Unfortunately, Cecil ‘forgot’ to mention the Skull and Bones connection between the two. It is well documented if anyone needs cites.
So you still don’t have any problem choosing between two Bonesmen? If Kerry does get elected, the face of the government will change (can’t be as obviously biased against environmentalism, for example), but the same rotten core will stay in place. The world domination, wars, loss of rights, and militarism WILL NOT STOP.
Wait, two members of an organization whose membership has likely exceeded two thousand- have been unsavory individuals?
What evidence is there that Bush or Kerry are likely to implement eugenics, anyway? Or do something so unsavory as to support a monster tantamount to Hitler? Unless we have inklings of something to that degree, your conclusions, I’m afraid, are irrelevant.
Maybe that’s why your concern will not be shared by many Americans-- it’s actually a rare occurance in recent history. Everyone knows it takes money to get into presidential politics. The fact that so few recent contenders were born rich is kind of surprising-- one would think it would be more common.
Horseshit. Did you actually READ what Cecil wrote??
From Was President Bush’s great-grandfather a Nazi?
Seems pretty fucking tenuous to me. Sure, bring out your clear cites…they might be good for a laugh.
-XT
http://www.nhgazette.com/cgi-bin/NHGstore.cgi?user_action=detail&catalogno=NN_Bush_Nazi_2
http://www.guerrillanews.com/corporate_crime/doc3469.html
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/randy/swas5.htm
Care to see the original, vintage article aboue the seizure?
http://www.infowars.com/print_prescott.htm
When I first read these reports I couldn’t understand why these folks would support Hitler, especially AFTER Pearl Harbor. When I finally found out that Harriman was in Skull & Bones with Bush, it all fit together. The Eugenics program that came out of Skull & Bones, that was Hitler’s model, all add to the same cohesive picture. Obviously, Skull & Bones has sinister motives that we are unaware of.