Saturday, December 2, 2000

No civil war -just frustration in USA

Two weeks ago I told a friend that America 's

    " power elite " is working behind the scenes to resolve the

    election crisis - paying some attention to THE MOB , that

    is THE PEOPLE who think that " majoritarianism " is  just

    a snotty word for popular rule, for DEMOCRACY.

                  The nerve of unwashed masses with ATTITUDE !

    American Democracy has not taught them the proper respect

    for their better - people like Florida's Secretary of

    State , Catherine Harris - a certified member of the what

    the late C. Wright Mills called " The Power Elite ".

             I have been re-reading chapters of  his classic

    sociological study of American society , finding it hardly

    dated. Mills preferred the expression " power elite " to

    the Marxian " ruling class " - it was  a less dogmatic

    conception.

                 Mills wrote perceptively about the " higher

    immorality "  and the " crackpot realism " of a system

    of " organized irresponsibility ".

               And a whole chapter is devoted to  the celebrity.

    The  professional clowns on TV and other media are part

    the system : they serve to distract and bamboozle.

             The REAL elite are rather jealous of our clowns.

    Why should Jay Leno get more attention than  a Dupont

    or a Rockefeller  - or  now even a Bill Gates ?

                 Let us patiently await the decision of

    the " power elite " - which of course denies its own

    existence. The RICH are different from you and me ! To

    be sure !

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Ron