spendius, I wrote a comment but didn't submit it apparently. Luckily for you, I believe I can recreate it. What I wrote was, I should take comfort as a plebeian that the elite don't run things here, but I'm not naive enough to believe that. The most I would concede is that there maybe be a quantitative difference in the amount of social control they exert.
Where would you locate it on a scale of 0-100 given 0=no pleb control?
spendius, that's a tough one, but certainly below 50. there's any number of statistics that point that way...low voter turnout, the number of millionaires in the Senate, the ratio of CEO pay to average employee pay, disproportionately high representation of minorities among enlisted men but not among officers, unequal pay for women, the percentage of population under incarceration...get the picture? it's a land of opportunity for some, myself included, but it seems to me that the opportunities could be distributed more evenly.
I think that we are engaged in a long term project to do what you are obviously right to hope for.The trend is that way.
Shifting things too fast involves risk.We are flawed and we have little choice but to muddle along hopefully in the right direction.Given the nature of a mighty social entity like Western society I would say that we are doing reasonably well.For sure I will be accused of justifying the conservative position but that has nothing to do with me.The facts of life are conservative.
