Cui bono works a lot better than Old Tired Categories

State power is always mobilized to benefit those who control the state.  The central genius of our founders was to recognize this truth and to structure our politics so that one group of greedy, cunning rent seekers was counterbalanced by another group with diametrically opposed interests:  States vs. the Feds, one enterprise vs. another.  The result of the erosion of our Federal Constitutional order has been a steady and recently accelerating accumulation of power and wealth at the center which of course has benefited the elites who control it.

Joel Kotkin (moderate Democrat and urbanist) uses this central insight to explain what has happened in our politics over the last two years.  Here's a sample:

These are the groups for whom Obama's persona and policies pack the greatest appeal. Since Obama took office, the prime beneficiary of fiscal and monetary policies has been Wall Street, which has seen a nice 30% rise in the market and record bonuses. Large corporations, which are largely financed by stocks and bonds, have seen their profits soar over 40%, in part due to access to easy money.

The financial boomlet is most marked in key creative class strongholds such as Manhattan, Boston and San Francisco, as well as their surrounding, super-affluent suburbs. The largesse benefits not only the traders, but the high-priced lawyers, accountants and publicists serving the financial elite. It has also benefited the high-end consumer industry, including the arts, which support much of the creative class. Not surpisingly, the Democrats scored well in these areas last night despite the GOP tide.

The creative class also has benefited from the lavish expenditures of public funds to major universities for research. This has lifted the prospects of the professoriate at the elite colleges from which Obama takes much of his advice. Finally the administration has rewarded its friends and funders among Silicon Valley venture capitalists. Once self-described paragons of entrepreneurial risk-taking, they increasingly search out government incentives and subsidies to pay for their large bets on renewable energy technology.

He shows that cui bono transcends ideological labels and 'power to the people' cliches.  The only way to minimize our looting by rent seekers of various flavors is to return to a constitutional order that sets them against each other.  In other words, to break it up, break it all up.  Must read internet.