Ivy League Imperialism and American Democracy.

[KlatooBNikto]

There were three defining moments for me when I realized that we live in a Pseudo Democracy controlled by men and women who do not take lightly their entitled role as " all men are created equal but we are just a little bit more equal than the rest".

The first was when Kissinger in his conversations with Nixon during the American inspired crisis in Chile during Allende's regime, said
" the latin countries are just so third rate".

The second was when Katharine Graham, another entitled woman said " there are certain things it is better for the American public not to know".

And the third occurred during the Democratic Primary in Wisconsin during 1988 when Dukakis was beaten by Jesse Jackson.The power brokers, to a man, were so concerned that a black man won over the white voters that they made a special effort to unseat him and heaved a collective sigh of relief when Dukakis finally won the nomination and went on to a resounding defeat.The same forces were at work when Howard Dean was winning over voters and made the internet a powerful medium for ordinary voters to participate in the Democratic process. And they showed their true colors when a man called Al From asked the Democratic Party to ostracize Michael Moore.

The men and women who make this clique of power brokers are what constitute the Ivy league Imperialists IMO.They are usually wealthy or well connected and exude an aura of money and intellectual arrogance,both domestically and internationally.While they cozy up to the powerful in foreign countries, their contempt for the people of those countries is very evident in the steps they take whenever a man like Chavez comes along and promises to put in motion true reforms.I am sure a similar process is at work in the Middle East.Their attitude towards our own people is the same. This is why it is possible for them to dismantle a program that benefits our elderly or our children with no remorse and let the so called market forces turn them into pitiable wrecks.

For those who contest my opinions I have only two quotations from Chairman Bush: " Who cares what you think?" and "It would be so much easier if it were a dictatorship with me as the dictator".

[leveymg]

1. McNamara realized the Vietnam War was lost at '68 Harvard Commencement

Years later, he recalled that the symbols of protest -- red fists and black armbands - were most prevalent among those who were graduating at the top of the class. At that moment, he realized the gig was up.

Unfortunately, power elites are largely self-selected. Read C. Wright Mills.

One good thing about self-managing chaos is that sometimes the process goes a little out of control -- as it is now -- which creates an opportunity for self-preservation by the non-select. In more "normal" times, we are quite content to allow our Ivy League "betters" to make all the important, life-or-death decisions.

Not now! Harvard Yard is not visibly self-correcting lately. The widening realization of crisis is a good thing, and gives me hope for the survival of the species.

Revolutions occur in the next phase, after contending elites split.

[KlatooBNikto]

2. Even the Ivy league is now infiltrated by the Untermenschen.

[leveymg]

3. Do you take the graduation of Shrub as evidence of that?

Legacies can be dumb as dirt. That hasn't changed in Cambridge or New Haven since the late 1600s.

As for the well-understood need for circulation of the elites, read Pareto. The problem is that the American elites are acting like an old-fashioned dynasty. Almost all the social philosophers, including Schumpeter (the most influential) warned about that sort of ossification at the top. Perhaps, Ivy League educations aren't what they used to be.

[peacetalksforall]

4. I cannot contest anything you said. It was said with precision.

Excellent.

I would just add that our problem seems to be MONEY, INTELLECTUAL ARROGANCE, and RELIGION.