The Betrayal Of The Western Middle Classes

The middle classes, together with the intellectuals, could be said to epitomize Western Civilization.  Both are uniquely Western phenomena, not only because they embody the strengths of the West — creativity, rationality, and individualism — but also the weaknesses of our culture. This last point has never been sufficiently explored on the right, and certainly not in the movements that want to bring the expansion of Islam and all kinds of progressivism to a halt.  But if we really want to understand the predicament of our civilization, we must first understand the sociology of the middle classes and the intelligentsia, and that sociology’s connection to history and current developments.

The middle classes constitute the greatest strength of the West, since they are the productive class. We have all heard or read about the laudable characteristics of the “mercantile spirit”: thrift, calculation, rationality, and so forth. But throughout history these very assets of the middle classes have often put them at a disadvantage.  The bourgeoisie and “moneyed interest” flourished in Europe under the tutelage of absolutist monarchy, and in continental Europe took power in sudden and often brutal upheavals like the French revolution.  This is no coincidence: the first business of the middle classes was always business, not government or the moral underpinning of government.  However, the problem was that the middle classes felt that their wealth and growing significance in society entitled them to occupy the seat of power. This claim was certainly justified in itself, but the result was that — at least in continental Europe — a bourgeoisie came to power that essentially saw government in terms of the account book, and not in the proper terms of legitimacy, morality, and realism.

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