Castellux Prophecy

Chastellux Prophecy ‘His conviction that laws and constitutions must be adapted to the particular structure of a society led Chastellux to fear that the effect of any imbalance between socio-economic power and political power (Business vs ordinary people) a condition he believed would produce constant discord. He saw during the Revolution, the constitution of each state tended toward full political equality, and he agreed that this was necessary as long as the war with Britain lasted. Furthermore, each American might realistically aspire to a near-equality with his fellow countrymen, because new land was available on the frontier… This is what he said; ‘All this is very well for the present moment, because every citizen is about equally well –off, or can become in a short time; but the success of trade and even of agriculture, will introduce riches among you, and the riches will produce inequality of fortunes and of property. Now, wherever this inequality exists, the real force will invariably be on the side of property (Later writers would use the word –Capital examples of that being Stock Exchange, Banks, Investments…) there will always be a contradiction, a struggle between the form of government and its natural tendancy; the right will be on one side, and the power on the other, hence the balance can only exist between the two dangerous extremes of Aristocracy and Anarchy’ What this prophecy is saying is- First there is for USA- The Frontier. As long as there is The Frontier there is place where a person of family aspiring to find success and wealth and a place to live and have land can go. But the reality of US history is that by the 1930s The Frontier –There was still Hawaii and Alaska- But the Frontier had gone as California filled up and the final frontier industries of Aviation, Electronics and Film making reached their limits. What he said was that when the population overwhelmed and ended an expanding frontier then it would increasingly become a contest between the people with their Political government and the Economic power of Business held by a small number of people whom he described as ‘Aristocracy’ while a better word for them would be ‘Billionaires’ and those holding tens of millions or more in wealth. The top one percent of American Society vs The rest and the balance would be lost. Or put this prophecy another way- The 1776 Revolution he saw could only succeed as long as there was more land and resources to be discovered and exploited- then the ideal of Equality could have some measure of reality. But the American Dream- Revolution of 1776 would collapse when the ability of ordinary people to find and develop their own wealth was gone- then it would be the super wealthy vs those missing out on that wealth. That is what he saw- that is his prophecy. Now the tide turned for USA between the years 1971 and 1974. Richard Nixon’s historic win of 1972 was The Apex of the American Dream. Thereafter with USA peaking out in its ability to find and produce its own Oil- the frontier moved to Arabia to Japan and then to China- but the wealth was increasingly in the hands of other and the resources exploited coming from beyond America- By the financial collapse of 2008 USA was creating Toxic Debt and there after began to print increasingly worth less and less money- but will we see the final words of this prophecy?