Get the Ricochet app
Ricochet will work fine in a browser on your mobile devices, but for the best experience please download our app.
The Commentary Magazine Podcast discussed an article in The Wall Street Journal by Kim Strassel (behind a paywall). She lists the findings of a poll done by the founder of Rasmussen – he interviewed “the elites”: Those who make over $150,000 per year, have a post-graduate degree, and live in a high density area. He listed them as 1% of the population. Some identified as Democrats, some Republicans, and some independents. But their views were remarkably homogeneous:
74% say their finances are getting better (compared to 20% of other voters).
Approval ratings
Biden: 84%
University professors: 89%
Journalists: 79%
Lawyers: 78%
Union leaders: 78%
Members of Congress: 67%
2/3 say teachers, not parents, should determine what children are taught.
Nearly 50% say USA has too much individual freedom.
77% support strict rationing of gasoline, meat, and electricity to fight climate change.
These are incredible numbers. So 84% of these “elites” approve of the job Biden is doing? Holy Toledo. Look at those numbers. It’s no wonder these people don’t understand, well, nearly everybody else in America. It’s like they’re living on another planet.
Which, I suppose, they sort of are. They’re getting wealthier. They like where they are, and they fear change. Leftism’s centralized control systems stifle change. Which is great, if you don’t want change.
Capitalism is unpredictable. If we’re allowed to compete, you never know who might win. And if you’re winning, the last thing you want is open competition. So they say Americans have too much freedom, and we should ration food and energy to the masses. The successful become risk-averse, and naturally tend to support the establishment which maintains the status quo.
Makes sense, I guess.
But this is also a window into the dark corners of the human soul. I got mine. So screw the rest of you.
If you get rich, and then you want to prevent others from becoming rich, that says a lot about you. And it’s not good.
The elites are a powerful group, and they are much more politically active than everyone else. And their views don't sound like hippy-dippy college kids. They sound like communists.
This is scary, scary stuff…
Discussion (173)
CHARTER MEMBER
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
The few teachers I know all seem to agree that teachers have the right to teach whatever they want while parents have the right to shut up.
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
It is disturbing to realize this but it is easy to see why this trait explains the growing divide between the "country class" and the " ruling class." College is supposed to create great thinkers and philosophers. Instead, colleges are turning out mind-numbed robots.
The villain has too great a resemblance to Darth Vader but sounds nothing like James Earl Jones. He isn’t the only villain. A few others come to mind, usually wealthy people, joined by those who want to join the wealthy elite. However, dressing like this does disclose KS’s inner soul.
CHARTER MEMBER
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
I went for a teaching certificate when I taught for four years at a trade school. There is no - zero - “content” taught or necessary for certification. It is all pedagogy, teaching methods.
So if you can get a teaching degree without having to know a single thing about any subject you are teaching, why the hell would you be qualified to decide what to teach??
I’m a contractor. If you hire me, should I be allowed to build anything I decide I think you deserve, while you can sit over there and keep your trap shut?
CHARTER MEMBER
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
I'm assuming that this is a proxy for "gun Control".
If not, these people need to be taken out back and horsewhipped.
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
A point made on the podcast an by others that the elites have the resources to make them immune to the adverse policy effects of the changes they do favor. Inflation, lax criminal enforcement, open borders, etc. etc.
Per a pew research study from a few years ago, progressives are only 15% of the democrat electorate yet their preferences rule the Biden admin policies. They do indeed have clout.
You're seeing five of 173 comments. Sign in, or join for just $5 per month, to read them all and add your own.