There exists within our social and political structures a cadre of being which serves itself more than the community it is engaged to serve. The feeding of its own pleasures and power is the primary concern of this cadre and its influence and impact seems to be growing by the day.
There is a book, written in the late 1950’s, which exposed one American version of this cadre to a populous eager to know the truth. “The Ugly American” catapulted to the top of the best seller list and, for a moment, sent a shock wave through the cadre. Had the impact been longer lasting we might never have pursued that misadventure in Southeast Asia which saw my brother, brother-in-law and thousands of other men and women, foisted into bloodying the jungles only to be vilified and told to be ashamed of what they had done.
The cadre survived even that, survived and thrived. And today it grows at every level. In our schools, in our cities, states and in every aspect of the federal government.
Acknowledgment of the existence of this cadre is important now that we consider how to rebuild our communities. One brief example:
Do our school systems really need to be so top loaded with administrators and bureaucrats? Do our children benefit when teachers are underpaid and undersupplied while, at the same time, new buildings and levels of overlords are erected around them? We already know what doesn’t work, systems bloated by edifices and overlords, how about trying something new – cultivating the joy of learning.
Best of all, opposing the cadre is done outside of the partisan malaise that so clouds discourse in our country. The cadre cares not for party or politics, Machiavellian to the core, it cares only for its own flourishing.