Aristocracy 2.0
In the middle of the twentieth century, a whole bunch of Western powers tried something new: social democracy. Two world wars briefly interrupted the old ways, as empires fell, monarchies were wiped out overnight and the aristocracy found their god-given right to power — already stuttering as the industrial revolution roared — faltered altogether.
The social democratic ideals adopted by the US and multiple nations across Europe at various intervals between 1930 and 1980, were heavily watered down and pretty divorced from their original, radical roots. But still, there was a push, including from those at the top of government, towards greater social equality, with an accompanying groundswell of support for ideas like universal suffrage, healthcare access, and ‘childcare’ no longer meaning sending kids over five out to factories to earn their keep and lose their fingers.
At some point though, this experiment quietly ended. Many in ostensible positions of power, even those leading political parties and countries, weren’t informed of this change. But networks of new elites formed that bore a great resemblance to historic systems of aristocratic rule. Deals were made in private dining rooms, alliances formed in exclusive clubs. A phone call to an old friend could shift a nation’s economic policy. A disgruntled email might eventually lead to a prime minister’s resignation.
This is what has been evidenced with the release of a new tranche of files relating to the affairs of the late child rapist and financier1, Jeffrey Epstein. The documents are shocking because they lay out in black and white a truth many of us have tried to ignore: ‘democracy’ will remain a fallacy so long as figures like Jeffrey Epstein, Peter Mandelson, Peter Thiel and all their other collaborators continue to collude on how to influence global affairs in a way that works out best for them.
‘Best’ can mean anything from a plum job, personal wealth or continued protection from the law. The thing is, the conspiracy theorists are both wrong and right. There is a select group of very powerful people who want to impact decision-making at an international level. Their power, in fact comes from their dedication to this task and the recruitment of like-minded individuals, Mafia style. It is understood that only by working alongside each other can their aims be achieved — and quietly. “Complicity is the safest way to guarantee a conspiracy of silence,” notes Jonathan Cook. And yes, some of them were (and are!) paedophiles.
But what the conspiracy theorists get wrong, is wanting to attach meaning to the behaviour of these elites, beyond their own gain. The conspiracy is not in aid of replacing the ‘white’ population, at least not for most of those involved. It’s not some big Jewish plot to take over. This current crop of dial-movers are motivated only by their personal benefit, which means accruing power and financial capital (the latter is a shortcut to power, although only to a point. Elon Musk, for example, the supposedly ‘richest’ man in the world, was semi-snubbed by Epstein, likely because he lacked other skills required for membership of the inner circle. Imagine being too much of a loser to get invited to the billionaire paedophile party).
Power is a corrupting force. As someone I’m dating puts it: when you have nothing greater to serve than yourself, it drives one mad — and depraved. Having no cap on your appetites, with nothing to reign you in, warps the mind. Humans should not feel like gods on earth. Contempt sets in for their fellow creatures. It’s why so many of the rich and famous end up in such a dark place, from committing sexual crimes to getting really into race science.
Yes, some have innate inclinations for perversions that are an affront to humanity — accounts of Epstein’s years as a schoolteacher certainly suggest he showed an interest in underage girls even long before his elevation to the upper echelons of society — but most don’t.
Yet a disproportionate amount of our elites and one percenters seem to develop horrendously deviant tastes, which centre on dominating and dehumanising. To my mind, it’s because after a certain point there is no one — or no mechanism — to tell them ‘no’. Rather, there is always someone who, for the right price, will say ‘yes’, on behalf of themselves — or others.
Our elites of history — the aristocrats — were debauched too. There were some standout villains, like the Marquis de Sade, Epstein’s 18th century equivalent. But across the board, the higher up you went in social hierarchy, the more desensitised, dead-eyed and downright weird they got. Such megalomania endures now among contemporary high society; it’s why you end up with headlines like ‘Jeffrey Epstein Hoped to Seed Human Race With His DNA’, features diving into the pro-natalist movement championed by Silicon Valley tech millionaires, and bizarre tweeted erotica from that one venture capitalist who’s trying to live forever.
Yet a slight but key difference separating our historic and contemporary overlords, at least in Britain, was a sense of hereditary duty. In his seminal 1940 essay, ‘The Lion and the Unicorn’, George Orwell noted this trait, amid an analysis of the decay in the ability and power of Britain’s aristocratic ruling class.
“After 1832, the old land-owning aristocracy steadily lost power, but instead of disappearing or becoming a fossil, they simply intermarried with the merchants, manufacturers and financiers who replaced them and soon turned them into accurate copies of themselves […]
The underlying fact was the whole position of the moneyed class had long ceased to be justifiable. There they sat, at the centre of a vast empire and a world-wide financial network, drawing interest and profits and spending them — on what? […]
But the British ruling class obviously could not admit to themselves that their usefulness was at an end. Had they done that, they would have had to abdicate. For it was not possible for them to turn themselves into mere bandits, like the American millionaires, consciously clinging to unjust privileges by bribery and tear gas bombs. After all, they belonged to a class with a certain tradition […] where the duty of dying for your country, if necessary, is laid down as the first and greatest of the Commandments. They had to feel themselves true patriots, even while they plundered their countrymen.”
In short, the British aristocracy of yore were instilled with strict obligations. They had responsibilities: fealty and defence of those above them — God, king and country — and paternal protection of those below them, i.e. everyone else. Of course, these values created a vastly unequal society that was warped, extractive and suppressive. It wasn’t any ‘better’ than what we have now. But at least it didn’t offer the illusion of democratic power while, behind the scenes, a few boundlessly greedy, selfish people were pulling on strings to make everyone else dance to their tune.
Our current system operates in a similar manner — but produces far more apathy and helpless conspiracy among us commoners, who can sense there’s rooms we are excluded from, even while those at the top insist our ‘democracies’ are working just fine (or, worse: admit there’s issues, but refuse to change anything).
This is the house that rampant capitalism built. What’s even more aggravating is when those who enable, consult and reward the Epsteins and Mandelsons when it suits them to tap into their network, have the temerity to be shocked at the scale of their duplicity and corruption, both moral and material.
“How is it,” my date texted me, “that […] we make it overtly clear that viciousness and the cold-hearted pursuit of greed will be rewarded and then be surprised that those people end up being personally very very strange?”
I’m sure a few of the old aristocratic, duty-bound dragons remain holed up in draughty British manors, but they’re irrelevant. In spirit, if not in nationality, our ruling class are all American bandit millionaires now.
Epstein was ostensibly a finance guy, but it seems obvious his real trade was in flesh and secrets. Essentially, he was Littlefinger, from Game of Thrones.