Citizens' Daily Lobby

Why should it surprise those of us who are educated (I prefer the label “Nerd” to “New Elite,” thank you very much) that current public opinion in America is running against us?   Times are hard, scary even, and history (and, let’s face it, high school) teaches us that when things get tough, the tough beat up nerds.    Fortunately, we live in a country that still maintains the rule of law, imperfect a system as it is, and modern bullies and would-be revolutionaries are thus far largely constrained to taunting.

In “The Ruling Class,” Angelo Codevilla describes the enemy for the “country class.”

Today’s Ruling Class, from Boston to San Diego, was formed by an educational system that exposed them to the same ideas and gave them remarkably uniform guidance, as well as tastes and habits. These amount to a social canon of judgments about good and evil, complete with secular sacred history, sins (against minorities and the environment), and saints. Using the right words and avoiding the wrong ones when referring to such matters – using the ‘in’ language – serves as a badge of identity.

Perhaps in some ways he is right.  Since publication of The Power Elite by C. Wright Mills way back in the ’50′s, many scholars acknowledge the coalescence of money, power, and education in  elite groups.  Where Codevilla gets it most wrong is in his assumption that it is education, rather than wealth and status, that is the root of the problem.  He somehow manages to demonize college professors while ignoring the very real exploitation and  oppression perpetrated on Americans for the past couple of centuries by captains of industry.

The take-home message of Codevilla and his Tea Party fans must be that the real enemy is Liberalism.  Liberalism, it would seem (and New Elite nerds would also probably agree) is a by-product of education, so, whatever you do, oh stalwart member of the Country Class, for God’s sake,  stay away from college.    Keep working nights and weekends for the Man, and you’ll go far, probably.  If you don’t, at least you’ll go to your grave knowing you didn’t sell out.