In 1952, when Burnham delivered the lecture, he was far along on his political/philosophical odyssey from 1930s Marxism (the Trotskyite version) to National Review conservatism. He had written two sociopolitical books — The Managerial Revolution: What Is Happening in the World (1941) and The Machiavellians: Defenders of Freedom (1943) — and had completed a Cold War trilogy that set forth a geopolitical strategy for winning the Cold War. He was also in the midst of breaking with his former liberal, anti-communist colleagues at Partisan Review over the issue of domestic communism — Burnham took the threat of internal communist subversion far more seriously than the liberal intelligentsia. He refused to unambiguously condemn Sen. Joseph McCarthy, warning that the Left was using “McCarthyism” to discredit anti-communism.
Burnham’s 1952 lecture focused on the internal threat to liberty posed by the rising “managerial class,” who increasingly controlled the economic and political direction of the United States, regardless of which political party was in power. In hindsight, Burnham’s lecture contained the seeds of his much neglected but brilliant 1959 book Congress and the American Tradition. And the philosophical foundations for Burnham’s lecture and book reach back to his arguments and analyses in The Managerial Revolution and The Machiavellians.
Burnham began his lecture by asserting that democracy was a “myth” and that “all governments are oligarchies” where a small governing or ruling class holds political power. Oligarchical rule, however, was sustained in part by force but also by political “myths” or formulas that provided “legitimacy” for the ruling class. In the United States, the prevailing “myth” has been that “rule by the people” and the “popular will” are manifestations of “democracy.” Burnham noted that “the people cannot in fact rule” and that government “by the people” was a practical impossibility.
The Founding Fathers, according to Burnham, understood this and constructed a constitutional framework — separation of powers and federalism — that operated to resist political centralization and fostered the development and strengthening of intermediary institutions. James Madison and his colleagues established a constitutional republic, not a democracy. The power and reach of the federal government, Burnham noted, “would have staggered both [Alexander] Hamilton and [Thomas] Jefferson.”
spectator.org
Burnham’s 1952 lecture focused on the internal threat to liberty posed by the rising “managerial class,” who increasingly controlled the economic and political direction of the United States, regardless of which political party was in power. In hindsight, Burnham’s lecture contained the seeds of his much neglected but brilliant 1959 book Congress and the American Tradition. And the philosophical foundations for Burnham’s lecture and book reach back to his arguments and analyses in The Managerial Revolution and The Machiavellians.
Burnham began his lecture by asserting that democracy was a “myth” and that “all governments are oligarchies” where a small governing or ruling class holds political power. Oligarchical rule, however, was sustained in part by force but also by political “myths” or formulas that provided “legitimacy” for the ruling class. In the United States, the prevailing “myth” has been that “rule by the people” and the “popular will” are manifestations of “democracy.” Burnham noted that “the people cannot in fact rule” and that government “by the people” was a practical impossibility.
The Founding Fathers, according to Burnham, understood this and constructed a constitutional framework — separation of powers and federalism — that operated to resist political centralization and fostered the development and strengthening of intermediary institutions. James Madison and his colleagues established a constitutional republic, not a democracy. The power and reach of the federal government, Burnham noted, “would have staggered both [Alexander] Hamilton and [Thomas] Jefferson.”
The Drift Toward ‘Democratic Despotism’ - The American Spectator | USA News and PoliticsThe American Spectator | USA News and Politics
The Biden administration’s excessive use of executive orders, regulatory rulemaking power, and lawfare against state governments and other “intermediary
spectator.org