Philip Dru: Administrator
“In the year 1920, the student and the statesman saw many indications that the social, financial and industrial troubles that had vexed the United States of America for so long a time were about to culminate in civil war.
“Wealth had grown so strong, that the few were about to strangle the many, and among the great masses of the people, there was sullen and rebellious discontent.
“The laborer in the cities, the producer on the farm, the merchant, the professional man and all save organized capital and its satellites, saw a gloomy and hopeless future.”
These are the opening paragraphs of a novel entitled Philip Dru: Administrator, originally written anonymously by a man named Edward Mandell House and published in 1912. House was from Texas and involved in politics there, but always behind the scenes, never himself running for public office. House became discontented with local politics and so turned his sights to the national stage, and on November 24, 1911 he got his “Big Break,” so to speak when the Governor of New Jersey, Woodrow Wilson called on him at his room in the Hotel Gotham in New York. The two men took to each other right away.
When Wilson became President, House was offered a cabinet position but he refused, thus avoiding the duties and responsibilities of public position, instead preferring to operate behind the scenes, something which obviously suited him better. The novel, Philip Dru had been conceived and written in the Autumn of 1911 when House was convalescing from an illness he suffered while still in Austin. It did not take House long to write, since it was basically just his personal thoughts and philosophies about American government, how it should be organized and operate.
The Beginning Of “Trust The Experts”
“All that book has said should be, comes about.… The President comes to Philip Dru in the end.” - Franklin Lane - Secretary Of The Interior under Woodrow Wilson.
In the novel the main character Philip Dru, has the exact opposite personality as the author Edward House. Dru is not a man who prefers anonymity, rather he’s a bold, charismatic and confident public figure who becomes the leader of a popular insurrection. His rebellion ultimately succeeds and Philip Dru becomes dictator of America.
Among other ideas he institutes is a group of “experts,” which he calls the brain trust, established in order to redefine the powers of the courts. He directs that the Supreme Court be deprived of its power to declare legislation unconstitutional. Later in the novel he intends to rewrite, not only the federal constitution, but all the state constitutions as well. (trust the experts)
The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (and to a lesser degree, Theodore Roosevelts) is considered the beginning of the progressive era, and the influence of the book Philip Dru, and of its author Edward House on Wilson may have played a roll in the direction his presidency took. Ironically, over time many of the reforms envisioned in Houses novel have been realized in real life, but without the necessity of the messy revolution.
Under Dru’s administration:
Tariffs are sharply reduced from the heights they had reached at the turn of the century.
An income tax is introduced, though the rates are modest by today’s standards. (Aw, the IRS)
A new banking law is enacted, providing for a flexible currency. (The Federal Reserve)
Prohibitions of combinations in restraint of trade are tightened. (Federal Trade Commission)
Female suffrage is accepted.
In one form or another all these things came to be during Wilson’s administration, leading Secretary of the Interior Lane to say, as previously noted: “All that book has said should be, comes about.… The President comes to Philip Dru in the end. Additionally, several foundations were laid by Wilson which FDR would later build upon for his New Deal.
Under Wilson’s administration:
The United States Senate is altered by the seventeenth amendment, in reality turning it into another House of Representatives just with a six year term.
The eighteenth amendment makes alcohol illegal, creating the notorious prohibition era and all that went along with it. Fortunately it was repealed.
Worth mentioning again (straight out of the book) a federal income tax.
The League of Nations (eventually to become the United Nations).
America enters into World War One, supposedly the war to end all wars. We know that it wasn’t. (Wilsons legacy regarding foreign affairs is one of increased meddling in other countries. Meddling, which in one form or another, remains with us today).
Wilson was an avowed racist and eugenicist who re-segregated the Federal workforce.
Woodrow Wilsons’ (And Philip Drus’) Legacy Lives On
Woodrow Wilson was an elitist who believed the constitution didn’t matter anymore. In his own 1887 publication, Socialism And Democracy Wilson states: “that although some thinkers have attempted to turn the public mind against socialism, he is trying to render it not only intelligible but attractive and valid. He proudly supports the idea of unlimited government and public control.” Wilson argues: “that all idea of a limitation of public authority by individual rights be put out of view, and that the State consider itself bound to stop only at what is unwise or futile in its universal superintendence alike of individual and public interests.”
He fancied a country where anonymous administrators would be in charge of running all institutions both in, and outside of government (trust the experts). It’s no wonder he and Edward Mandell House, whom Wilson once referred to as “my second personality … my independent self,” took an instant liking to one another, and why the novel Philip Dru appealed to Wilson. Note the phrase: “that all idea of a limitation of public authority by individual rights be put out of view.” Today the legacies of Wilson and Dru live on in what some refer to as The Deep State, the cabal of unaccountable administrators operating “out of view” throughout government and society.
We Are Surrounded By “Mini Philips”
Did the book have an impact on Wilson’s governing philosophy? Perhaps. More likely though, already predisposed to doing end runs around the Constitution, the novel merely reinforced his worldview. Regardless, the results of Wilsons’ presidency have endured, expanded and been mainstreamed by a centuries worth of time. A century of Federal Income Taxes, of Debased Currency, of Economic and Government Globalization, and of Generation after Generation of True Believers being added to the ranks of The Administrative Classes. The result has been a de facto annulment of our “God Given” rights, just as Wilson envisioned.
Look around at the multitude of mini “Philips” entrenched deep within all those departments and bureaus at every level of government, Federal, State and Local. Entrenched in the courts, the media, and throughout academia. Academia, which serves as the incubator for the next generation of mini “Philips” and the next, and the next, on and on in perpetuity. Anonymous little Philips all busy doing “Administrative” tasks on OUR BEHALF, the American Subject, um……. I mean citizen. So that today, even if a well meaning outsider like Donald Trump comes along and wants to dismantle this leviathan, the amount of inertia pushing the train down the tracks is so great that it becomes virtually impossible to ever DRAIN THE SWAMP!
DRAIN THE SWAMP! DRAIN THE SWAMP! DRAIN THE SWAMP! I recall those chants at Trump rallies. Trump won the Presidency twice, in large part because of that promise. Yet here we are, more than a century after the Philip Dru Presidency, early in Donald Trumps second term, and The Swamp is still not getting drained. In fact it’s getting deeper, soon it may need to be renamed the SIXTH GREAT LAKE.
After surviving the assassination attempt in Butler Pennsylvania on July 13th of 2024, it seemed that Trump may have had a “Road to Demascus” moment. That when he return to the Presidency he would be a new man, more spiritual, less distracted and more committed to accomplishing his goals. The fruits of change we saw early on in his second term, now seem to be gradually dying on the vine. One year into Trumps second term, I get the same vibe I had three years into his first term, and I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one. In Trump 1.0 we saw him buckle to Fauci’s Covid hoax and simultaneously to the Big Pharma vaccine hoax. Now in Trump 2.0, he appears to be buckling to an actual insurrection happening in real time on the streets of Minneapolis. So much for deporting illegals?????
Moving Tom Homan onto center stage in Minneapolis provides at least some hope that things might be turning around. We’ll need to see. The successes Trump has had dealing with foreign adversaries have to be duplicated here at home with domestic adversaries, because frankly they are more of a clear and present danger to the Republic.
Time Is Running Out
Maybe I’m missing something here, I hope so, because I want President Trump to succeed, but this pause/pullback in Minneapolis along with a failure to reform the Federal Government (What Was DOGE For?) is concerning because things are now getting scary. Ronald Reagan said: “There is no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit.” Unfortunately, President Trump often seems preoccupied with getting the credit, and so he pays too much attention to short term appearances as viewed through a media lens. America today remains a long way from being great again, and a long way from bidding a permanent goodbye to Mr. Dru and all the mini Philips.
Agenda 47
Trumps 2024 campaign outlined 20 items that he intended to accomplish in order to Make America Great Again. Below is a list of those items. The reader can go through and decide themselves which ones have been, or are being accomplished. Which ones have not been, and likely will not be accomplished. Keep in mind that time is running out. If Congress flips later this year, we will be right back to never ending impeachments, only this time on steroids. Trump 2.0 will be over, and Make America Great Again will become nothing more than a trivia question on some game show.
1-SEAL THE BORDER AND STOP THE MIGRANT INVASION
2-CARRY OUT THE LARGEST DEPORTATION OPERATION IN AMERICAN HISTORY
3-END INFLATION, AND MAKE AMERICA AFFORDABLE AGAIN
4-MAKE AMERICA THE DOMINANT ENERGY PRODUCER IN THE WORLD, BY FAR!
5-STOP OUTSOURCING, AND TURN THE UNITED STATES INTO A MANUFACTURING SUPERPOWER
6-LARGE TAX CUTS FOR WORKERS, AND NO TAX ON TIPS!
7-DEFEND OUR CONSTITUTION, OUR BILL OF RIGHTS, AND OUR FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS, INCLUDING FREEDOM OF SPEECH, FREEDOM OF RELIGION, AND THE RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS
8-PREVENT WORLD WAR THREE, RESTORE PEACE IN EUROPE AND IN THE MIDDLE EAST, AND BUILD A GREAT IRON DOME MISSILE DEFENSE SHIELD OVER OUR ENTIRE COUNTRY -- ALL MADE IN AMERICA
9-END THE WEAPONIZATION OF GOVERNMENT AGAINST THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
10-STOP THE MIGRANT CRIME EPIDEMIC, DEMOLISH THE FOREIGN DRUG CARTELS, CRUSH GANG VIOLENCE, AND LOCK UP VIOLENT OFFENDERS
11-REBUILD OUR CITIES, INCLUDING WASHINGTON DC, MAKING THEM SAFE, CLEAN, AND BEAUTIFUL AGAIN.
12-STRENGTHEN AND MODERNIZE OUR MILITARY, MAKING IT, WITHOUT QUESTION, THE STRONGEST AND MOST POWERFUL IN THE WORLD
13-KEEP THE U.S. DOLLAR AS THE WORLD’S RESERVE CURRENCY
14-FIGHT FOR AND PROTECT SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE WITH NO CUTS, INCLUDING NO CHANGES TO THE RETIREMENT AGE
15-CANCEL THE ELECTRIC VEHICLE MANDATE AND CUT COSTLY AND BURDENSOME REGULATIONS
16-CUT FEDERAL FUNDING FOR ANY SCHOOL PUSHING CRITICAL RACE THEORY, RADICAL GENDER IDEOLOGY, AND OTHER INAPPROPRIATE RACIAL, SEXUAL, OR POLITICAL CONTENT ON OUR CHILDREN
17-KEEP MEN OUT OF WOMEN’S SPORTS
18-DEPORT PRO-HAMAS RADICALS AND MAKE OUR COLLEGE CAMPUSES SAFE AND PATRIOTIC AGAIN
19-SECURE OUR ELECTIONS, INCLUDING SAME DAY VOTING, VOTER IDENTIFICATION, PAPER BALLOTS, AND PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP
20-UNITE OUR COUNTRY BY BRINGING IT TO NEW AND RECORD LEVELS OF SUCCESS