The Late, Great American WASP ('bout time somebody said it)

Wall Street Journal ^ | 12/20/13 | JOSEPH EPSTEIN

[GodAndCountryFirst]

The U.S. once had an unofficial but nonetheless genuine ruling class, drawn from what came to be known as the WASP establishment. Members of this establishment dominated politics, economics and education, but they do so no longer. The WASPocracy, as I think of it, lost its confidence and, with it, the power and interest to lead. We are now without a ruling class, unless one includes the entity that has come to be known as the meritocracy—presumably an aristocracy of sheer intelligence, men and women trained in the nation's most prestigious schools.

The acronym WASP derives, of course, from White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, but as acronyms go, this one is more deficient than most. Lots of people, including powerful figures and some presidents, have been white, Anglo-Saxon and Protestant but were far from being WASPs. Neither Jimmy Carter nor Bill Clinton qualified.

-- SNIP--

WASP life, though, was chiefly found on the eastern seaboard. WASPs had their own social clubs and did business with a small number of select investment and legal firms, such as Brown Brothers Harriman and Sullivan & Cromwell. Many lived on inherited money, soundly invested.

-- SNIP--

The late 1960s put the first serious dent into the WASPs as untitled aristocrats and national leaders. For protesters of that generation, the word WASP didn't come into play so much as the word Establishment, heretofore chiefly an ecclesiastical term. The Establishment was the protesters' enemy and target. The Establishment was thought to have sent the country into Vietnam; it was perfectly content with the status quo, with all its restrictions on freedom and tolerance for unjust social arrangements; it stood for all that was uptight and generally repressive in American culture.

[GodAndCountryFirst]

This is refreshing. Say what you want about it, but most societies need a ruling class of some kind -- great families who represent its true ideals. Having a certain group of people who are steeped in tradition and insulated from financial vulnerability helps keep a society strong. I am not saying they should have ALL the power, of course. But we should have such people in the mix to protect the culture and keep the norms alive. Societies that don't have such families always fail.

[Perdogg]

Romney-Ryan was the first GOP ticket not to have a protestant.

[Albion Wilde]

But we have Kim and Kanye...

[BenLurkin]

You must be a big fan of the Kennedys.

[staytrue]

“but most societies need a ruling class of some kind — great families who represent its true ideals.”

Hate to tell you this, but that family would be THE BUSHES.

[ZULU]

There were WASPs and there were WASPs.

Some of the characters listed: FDR, the Bush Klan, Rockefellers, etc. as well as others like Tom Kean Senior of NJ, Chrissie Whitman of New Jersey. exemplify everything that is WRONG with America today. And most of it comes from denying and rejecting their own heritage.

[miss marmelstein]

The WASP elite became big libs in the 60s - they caused their own death in many ways.

[Altura Ct.]

Members of this establishment dominated politics, economics and education, but they do so no longer.

Thanks God, otherwise we might start looking like Detroit....oh wait

[Trapped Behind Enemy Lines]

There is a great deal of mythology about WASPs. It is erroneous to equate this caste with hereditary European nobility. The US is a big melting pot. Power is fluid. One day you’re up. The next day you’re down. This is all a big myth.

[Savage Beast]

This is a fairly good appraisal, but Epstein writes like an outsider looking in and doesn’t get it quite right.

[allendale]

You are absolutely correct when WASP began to stand for White Anglo Saxon Pagan and not Protestant, the decadence and decline became inevitable.

[Savage Beast]

This is not bad thought:

"the chief WASP qualities were "success depending on industry; use giving industry its task; civic-mindedness placing obligations on success, and antisensuality setting limits to the enjoyment of it; conscience watching over everything."

"Under WASP hegemony, corruption, scandal and incompetence in high places weren't, as now, regular features of public life. Under WASP rule, stability, solidity, gravity and a certain weight and aura of seriousness suffused public life. As a ruling class, today's new meritocracy has failed to provide the positive qualities that older generations of WASPs provided."

[Sherman Logan]

During the late 1960s, some of the heirs of the Rockefeller clan openly admitted feeling guilty about their wealth and the way their ancestors came by it.

The author implies, but never specifically states, that what he really means by WASP is not "white Anglo-Saxon Protestant," but rather "northeast upper class."

The Rockefellers, Carnegies, Mellons, Roosevelts, Vanderbilts and a host of others were not Anglo-Saxon, yet were indisputably WASP.

[Savage Beast]

"The last WASP president was George H.W. Bush, but there is reason to believe he wasn't entirely proud of being a WASP...When running for office he made every attempt to pass himself off as a Texan"

Apparently it escaped Epstein that Texans are among the most WASPish of the WASPs.

"George W. Bush, even though he can claim impeccable WASP lineage and went to the right schools, seems otherwise to have shed all WASPish coloration and become an authentic Texan."

In other words: he went from being a WASP to being a WASP. (Epstein just can't quite comprehend it.)

[Sherman Logan]

Neither Jimmy Carter nor Bill Clinton qualified.

Both and Jimmuh are indisputably white, Anglo-Saxon and Protestant.

They just weren't WASPs.

[Savage Beast]

"Meritocracy in America starts (and often ends) in what are thought to be the best colleges and universities."

This is true only in Epstein's limited paradigm. The vast majority of America's most successful (financially and otherwise) achievers are not graduates of the schools that impress Epstein as the most prestigious. They tend to be well motivated and talented graduates of state universities and community colleges. For example: Forbes' lists of the richest Americans reveals this year after year.

[Buckeye McFrog]

You are referring to people like George H. W. Bush?
No thank you.

[Sherman Logan]

Nahh. He gets it just fine. He just doesn’t express it well.

Most white southerners are Anglo-Saxon and Protestant, despite the somewhat mythical prominence assigned Scotch-Irish ancestry in recent decades.

But southerners have never been WASPs in the sense of northeast ruling elite. He’s actually referring to a cultural group, assigned ethnicity for purposes of labeling, but with ethnicity not terribly relevant in any other sense.

[Savage Beast]

Epstein and I certainly agree on this:

"Of the two strongest American presidents since 1950— Harry S. Truman and Ronald Reagan —the first didn't go to college at all, and the second went to Eureka College"

And it illustrates my point.

Truman and Reagan are the only great Presidents of the 20th century.

The only other great U.S. Presidents were Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and Lincoln.

By Epstein's criteria, none of these great Presidents was a WASP.

[Savage Beast]

The ancient and ingrained WASP disdain for politics was well founded. Far from a meritocracy or an aristocracy, politics and politicians are a thugocracy.

As the Information Age has brought more and more truth to light, the average Americans opinion of them has gone from disdain to contempt--and for excellent reasons.