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Kimo's avatar

My non-elite status is now confirmed by my never having heard the names Jake Sullivan or Shamus Khan. I have heard of Yale, though! 🎉🎉🎉

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Tim Richardson's avatar

Good news!

We can lean on Thomas Sowell who reminds us that there is greater diversity among the rich than between the rich & the poor.

Let’s say that “poor” is below $100,000 in annual income. Everyone above that level is “rich”.

Sowell reminds us that there is a far greater diversity, in dollar terms, AMONG the rich than there is BETWEEN a “poor“ person and rich person.

There is greater diversity among people making $250,001 per year and multi-millionaires.

There is greater diversity among multi-millionaires and billionaires.

And, there’s even more diversity between a billionaire and a multi-billionaire.

The diversity among the poor stops when you get below zero while there is no upper limit on a multibillionaire.

This is the most common type of Elite power holders in America. These are the financial Elite.

Peter Turchin, author of UltraSociety, and End Times, describes an Elite as someone who holds power. Turchin describes four types of power:

1) Financial power is wealth, usually quantified in dollar terms. America is emblematic of a country which legitimizes financial power in its citizens.

2) Coercive power is military or police power. Cartels may also utilize coercive power in lawless states such as Mexico or Afghanistan. Military coercive power is the most ancient type of power and is becoming quickly de-legitimized as evidenced by the recent pushback against Israel in Gaza.

3) Administrative power is the most common type of power. This is found in bureaucracies, both public and private, where middle managers and frontline DMV employees, schoolteachers, etc. attempt to exert their rule-making authority. Administrative power grows linearly with the growth of the State.

Ideological power is the power of ideas. Ideological power has been used by everyone from Jesus to Hitler to Jordan Peterson and even online influencers today. Ideological power is often seen as soft but, under the right circumstances, can be very powerful.

So, in summary, Elites, or anybody who wields one of the four types of power listed above.

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