April 1, 2005
The Neglect of the American Elite
A paradox has baffled historians and citizens generally for as long as there has been a United States of America: How can a nation consecrated to freedom and equality nonetheless give rise to great hierarchies of power and wealth that undermine the very foundations of that extraordinary promise? The paradox is more pointed than that. The country is a democracy. The people rule. And yet the people do not rule; elites, patriciates, castes, classes have ruled in their stead. Sometimes they seem
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