ON THE ROAD TO SCOUNDRELISM
(Or, Can Serfdom be much further?)

I love it when I find something that connects with what I am working on; with what I want to say at the moment. Having just finished Chopped Liver in which I argued for (among other things) the importance of ease of entry and exit in the workplace, I was reading C.S. Lewis' "The Inner Ring" which deals with this concept in depth. (This address was the annual "Commemoration Oration" given at King's College, University of London, on 14 December 1944 and can be found in The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses published by Touchstone (Simon & Schuster) and elsewhere. I got the word "scoundrelism" from this address by Lewis.

Lewis deals mostly with the implications for the happiness (or lack thereof) of those who would "lust for the esoteric; the longing to be inside" and, once having arrived, take pleasure excluding others from the inner cirlce. You need to read him to understand what he means by "Inner Ring." His focus is on warning the young college students to watch their step and not go that way. It is just the opposite of what colleges and schools in this country have been mining and fostering. (Probably in Lewis' day also. That's why he bothers).

When some things are being pursued, there will be "accidental" exclusion of others. Lewis states, "But your genuine Inner Ring exists for exclusion. There'd be no fun if there were no outsiders. The invisible line would have no meaning unless most people were on the wrong side of it. Exclusion is no accident; it is the essence."

Lewis is kinder to "the professions" than I. He divides their members into "sound craftsmen" and others, I presume to be the scoundrels. According to him, the sound craftsmen "will not shape that professional policy or work up that professionl influence which fights for the profession as a whole against the public; nor will it lead to those periodic scandals and crises which that Inner Ring produces." Can you be a "sound craftsman" in a cesspool? If there are too many scandals and crises, where would you look to find the cause? Lewis has told us.

Why should we allow anything other than craftsmen and tradesmen? Isn't that what we really had in the beginning and up until recently in this country? Why should we allow some to form "professions?" Can we only warn the youth about "Inner Rings" and not beat the crap out of those who would form them to our harm? Wasn't this the kind of power that those unhappy females who wanted men's positions really coveted? To be a Fatty Smithson not some powerless Joe Blow yeoman. Had it not existed, wouldn't the home have been more attractive? Networking and whining to get into the Inner Ring is one thing; getting to the top by years of outstanding hard worthwile (yes, especially worthwile) work is another.

I am not aware of one "profession" that is worth its salt these days. They are all frauds of one degree or another. Now you know where I stand. I like Lewis, but this address troubles me. Perhaps I am expecting too much. Are even the "sound craftsmen" to enjoy the extra that the scoundrels extract from the public. In turn, the "sound craftsmen" supply the profession with respectability. What kind of bargain is that? What about being known "by the company you keep?" Perhaps my views are because of my belief in what I saw as the difference between "The Old World" (Europe) and "The New World" (ie., here). Besides the Inner Ring of The Crown and the Inner Ring of the State Religion, our ancestors wanted to escape the Inner Ring of The Guilds. So, why are we so willing to bring back The Guilds and embrace the "esoteric" which is their fertilizer? Our ancestors wanted a chance to be their own boss. You are not when you belong to a guild or its equivalent, the modern professions.

If there are those within a profession that are attempting to improve, I don't see it. Instead of changing, more rules and regulations are promulgated with the assumption that things will then get better. That's not the way the world works. When my Certified Public Accounting profession took some hits in the 1970s, the Inner Ring conned the country into "self-regulation," which I believe set the stage for the recent scandals. It is with interest and trepidation that I watch law enforcement garner more power after having failed to reduce the drug problem and violence, particularly domestic violence which we were told they would do when we empowered them before. The legal system has made a false promise. It is a massive fraud. They have failed us. Not only have they not delivered, they have made the problems bigger and more viscious.

I am waiting and hoping to see the parties that sold us these ideas arrested, tried, incarcerated, discredited, and sued. I think I will have a long wait. But, it will come. It will come. Fraud is fraud even in law enforcement. Maybe even some day we will get a class action suit that I can agree with. Imagine thousands of women suing because the legal profession intervened in their lives with false promises and ruined their marriages. Imagine family members suing because "daring" Junior not to try drugs is what led him to start thinking about them, and because their "drug war" is what put the profit motive behind the pusher who then had the incentive to hook their darling.

Lewis refers to ". . . all the respect which that profession in fact enjoys and which the speeches and the advertisements cannot maintain." This "speeches and advertisements" hit home for me when I saw a recent picture and story announcing a task force to investigate the Brame case. (The Seattle Post-Intelligencer caption: Christine Gregoire, from left, State Patrol Chief Ronal Serpas, U.S. Attorney John McKay and FBI Special Agent in Charge Charlie Mandigo announce the inquiry. (May 13, 2003)).

Roundup the usual suspects, eh? Some rats caught in the headlights? You are looking at the Perps. "Speeches and advertisements." The Inner Ring is on the job. Relax. Just "periodic scandals and crises which the Inner Ring produces." They will exclude you while they try to put the lid back on.

Scoundrelism. Periodic? Unless you insure that this really is only periodic, Serfdom.

Pry them off our backs. They are the problem. They are not the solution. Brame was one of them.

(Note: Since the Brame event, the Fire Chief of Dupont, Washington (very near Tacoma), has been charged with heroin possession and domestic violence. In the July 9, 2003 edition of my local paper, I read of a Tacoma fireman arrested for killing his wife. Now that's professional).

Copyright © 2003, Donald L. Beeman. All rights reserved.

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