The Elitists

There is always some form of elite. The elite feel that they are inherently superior to the rest of us and that, on that basis, makes them the natural ones to be in charge. This is human nature but the subject has come up repeatedly in the last few months so I am going to define who the elite are and what they believe.

In some times and places you are a member of the elite by birth. America's elite like to think that they are a meritocracy but this is not true. If it was then a first-term senator with no notable accomplishments would not be president. Membership in the elite is mainly a matter of having attended the right schools, living in the right places, having the right type of job, and having the right attitudes. In most cases these attitudes were imparted in the monoculture of today's universities.

Today's elite believe that they are superior because of received wisdom imparted when they were in college. Anyone who did not go to college (especially the "right" college) or who left with different attitudes is, by their definition, inferior and not qualified to rule.

It is important to recognize that the elite may have college degrees but they did not receive special training. Al Gore's degree is in journalism and his grade average was a low C (as was George W. Bush's). The Clintons and Obama have law degrees.

Since the elite believe that they are superior, they are advocates of top-down, big government with themselves at the top. They are attracted to socialism and other philosophies that give control of society to a select few.

Their attitude towards the rest of us ranges from condescending to contemptuous. Yesterday Bill Maher had this to say:

We have Democrats for one reason – to drag the ignorant hillbilly-half of this country into the next century, which in their case is the 19th."

While most elitists don't say it on national tv, a lot of them share this attitude. This carries over into many facets of everyday life.

Obviously President Obama and his cabinet are all part of this elite. When in smaller fundraisers among like-minded individuals the President will sometimes let his real attitudes slip - things like 'clinging to guns and religion and intolerance' or 'fear keeping the voters from acting rationally.' The attitudes of the elite go much further than the White House.

The elite have well-defined lifestyles. They often cannot understand why everyone does not adopt the same lifestyle. This has a strong affect on public policy.

First, the elite are city-dwellers. We tend to think of red states and blue states but a topographical map by precinct shows that we have very small, concentrated pockets of blue surrounded by a sea of red. This gives them a warped view of transportation. They are strong supporters of public transit (with public subsidies) but not all forms. They love trains and street cars but dislike buses where they would have to rub shoulders with the lower classes. The government is pushing a new passenger train system that will cost billions to build, will require millions in annual subsidies from the states and will still be too expensive for most people to use. They love bicycles and hate cars. They despise the suburbs and support anti-sprawl movements that are meant to force people to live in high-density areas (like theirs).

They hate for the non-elite to have wealth but can forgive it in their own. In fact, they can forgive a lot from their heroes. Al Gore owns several houses, each burning up more energy than several families but is still celebrated for telling the world to reduce their carbon emissions.

They insist that the public subsidize the radio and tv stations that they like and, conversely, that the subsidized stations play the programming that they want.

Their religion ranges from agnosticism to militant atheism. The only religious leaders they approve of are ones who teach social justice or liberation theology.

They work at white-collar jobs and would be horrified if anyone they know worked in a factory. At the same time, they worry about manufacturing jobs being sent overseas.

They are horrified if a non-elite becomes prominent. Look at their reaction to Sarah Palin. She came from a rural state and went to the wrong colleges. Their hatred of her was so immediate and so deep that before she was officially nominated they were already demanding proof that she hadn't faked her pregnancy.

They view unplanned children as a curse. They are not pro-choice, they are pro-abortion.

They view world history as colonialists and native people. To them, native people are always superior. They view Israel as a colonial power and the Palestinians as an oppressed people. That in turn means that all terrorist actions taken against Israel are justified but nothing that Israel does is ever justified. All Muslims are seem as victims of current or past oppression. This gives them a pass from condemnation for human rights abuses (it is alright for Iran to stone women now because we set up the Shaw in the 1950s).

The US is also a colonial power to them so the only just military actions are ones that do not serve any US interests.

Understand that everyone has opinions. Having a multitude of opinions is what makes us a free country. But the elite do not subscribe to this. Speech codes have been instituted and hate speech laws enacted.

Over the last couple of years the elite's desire to take charge has become worrying. Several times New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has wished that the US government could be more like China's. Right after his inauguration, several people wished that President Obama could become a dictator for a year or two until he had solved the world's problems.

The biggest problem with the elite is that they do not recognize their own limits. They are sure that the economic meltdown could have been prevented if there had only been a few more controls in place and they are sure that they can prevent any future bubbles. They do not even seem to be aware of the law of unintended consequences (i.e. things never go exactly as you expect). The world economy is too big and complex to be knowable but they trust themselves more than they trust in the markets, no matter how many times they are proven wrong and their answer will always be that they need more control.