There is no doubt many of the founders were a distinct group that were, educated, intelligent, wealthy, training in law etc. Though this makes them an elite group in the technical sense of the word, when most of us are referring to elitist or elitism it is in the political sense of the word. The self righteous who believe they are of superior intellect. Those who seek to control their fellow man in every way possible. They look down on the common man with disdain. They believe the common man needs their rulership, not their service.
It is interesting to look at the bio's of the signers of the declaration. They were quite a diverse group. There were doctors, lawyers, politicians, teachers, farmers, businessmen, soldiers, ministers. Most were educated and intelligent, but not all were educated by the finest colleges that money could buy (Harvard, Yale etc), many were self taught or apprentices. Many were wealthy, but not all were born into the aristocracy. Many were self taught, self made men who started their own business or taught themselves a trade that was of value to their fellow man.
http://www.ushistory.org/DECLARATION/signers/index.htm
No doubt in this group there were a few with the political elite mindset. In the end they all singed a document that put all that at risk as well as their lives. They knew that if they failed they would either be imprisoned, swinging from a rope or living a life of exile.
They pledged it all with the following closing statement:
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor
.
Now it has been stated that some of our founders may have had some moral failings, were hypocritical, or even themselves corrupt. No doubt that some of these individuals existed. These kinds of people have always and will continue to be found in any organization of man, public or private. Most of the founders were aware of this. When they got together to form a more perfect union at the constitutional convention. They wrote a governing contract that limited the concentration of power in Washington and left the states with rest under the 10th amendment.
They knew all too well the dangers of central control of political power and money flowing through one place (London). some of them had personally witnessed the corruption going on there. One which held influence over a world empire. The founders who were prominent business men knew all to well who they had to go to move their products. Most of them sought to prevent such a concentration of power and money in one place. And with it a concentration of immoral, nefarious, and corrupt individuals to gather. Though these individuals represent a small minority in our society, when power and money is concentrated in one place they will gravitate there.
Before the ink was dry on the constitution those that were craving central power slowly began to creep into positions of power in the federal government. Over the years as the founders began to pass on, the federal government has steadily taken more and more power. Most times unconstitutionally. They will keep doing so little by little until the true keepers of the constitution, the American people stand up an throw out these impostors and charlatans.
As the original intent of the constitution was steadily encroached upon by the federal government, and outside of the amendment process state authority was taken and handed to Washington DC, through deception and misinterpretation of our founding document.
We now see what it has produced. A culture of corruption centered and firmly embedded in Washington DC. Now power and the flow of money are ever increasing its flow though Washington. Its now a one stop shop for the corrupt and those looking out for themselves and not the interests of the American people to collect federal cash. Hell they are putting up whole office buildings in DC to accommodate them. How can we continue to allow this.
This article is from 2005. I read an article on the same topic when the stimulus bill was passed and the correlation with a construction boom in Washington because of the corporate lobbyists heading to DC to feed at the trough. If I can find it I will add it. Here is a part of the article from 2005.
Money spent in Washington is taken from the people who produced it all over America. Washington produces little real value on its own. National defense and courts are essential to our freedom and prosperity, but that's a small part of what the federal government does these days. Most federal activity involves taking money from some people, giving it to others and keeping a big chunk as a transaction fee.
Every business and interest group in society has an office in Washington devoted to getting some of the $2.5 trillion federal budget for itself: senior citizens, farmers, veterans, teachers, social workers, oil companies, labor unions — you name it.
Walk down K Street, the heart of Washington's lobbying industry, and look at the directory in any office building. They're full of lobbyists and associations that are in Washington, for one reason: because, as Willie Sutton said about why he robbed banks, "That's where the money is."
It's not just money that's being sucked into Washington. It's human talent, the most valuable productive asset of all. Too much of the talent at America's most dynamic companies is now diverted from productive activity to either getting corporate welfare from Congress or protecting the company from political predation.
Slow economic growth can be blamed in large measure on just this process — the expansion of the parasite economy into the productive economy. The number of corporations with Washington offices increased 10-fold between 1961 and 1982. The number of people lobbying in Washington doubled in the late 1970s — and it has doubled again just since 2000. The number of lawyers per million Americans stayed the same from 1870 to 1970, then more than doubled in just 20 years. The Federal Register, where new regulations are printed, now prints a record 75,000 pages a year.
As the parasite economy grows, taxing some people and doling out favors to others, everybody gets sucked in. Even if you don't want a government subsidy, you need a lobbyist to protect you from being taxed and regulated by the other groups and their lobbyists.
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=5073
God save the republic.
