
 |
|
May 20, 2013
Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star
The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting
May 13, 2013
Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation
David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church
May 10, 2013
Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be
May 8, 2013
Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas
Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate
Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility
May 6, 2013
May 3, 2013
Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine
April 29, 2013
Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust
Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?
Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA
April 26, 2013
Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty
April 24, 2013
|
| |
Jewish World Review
Dec. 2, 2008
/ 5 Kislev 5769
Class in America
By
Paul Greenberg
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
I know we're not supposed to mention the subject of class in our oh-so-equal society. But no society can exist without a hierarchy. Indeed, that's just about the definition of a society.
Even a system that claims to be egalitarian requires leaders though they may deny they are. "I stand here as a servant of the people," as Juan Peron sings in Evita. And anyone who doubted it, at least out loud, could always be shot.
Whether an elite is chosen on the basis of merit or on less appealing grounds, like wealth or family or the sheer ability to terrorize a whole nation, an elite will always exist. Call it what you will: The Party, old money, or a Nomenklatura, as they used to say in the now defunct Soviet Union. Or the Establishment, as we still say here.
For a rough idea of the establishment's composition in this country, just look over any list of a presidential campaign's advisers either Barack Obama's or John McCain's, it doesn't matter.
To govern there must be a governors. At least as long as we live in an organized society. Rather than a Hobbesian state of nature in which life is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short."
On balance, I'd prefer structure. Anarchy can be dangerous to your health.
Besides, a society without distinctions would be one without distinction. To quote William S. Gilbert, he of Gilbert and Sullivan fame, if everybody has to be somebody, nobody can be anybody.
It's always been a myth that America is a classless society, though it's a popular one. A classless society would actually be one in which there was only one class: the poor and downtrodden. For egalitarianism tends to level in only one direction: downward.
But who dares say such things, especially at election time? Politicians must be especially wary of such candor. Their role is to pander, not point out things as they are and must be.
There are some things everyone senses but no one must say. Certainly you must not say them if you're in politics or otherwise a public figure. Our leaders must be careful lest they offend the great god Demos, the ruling deity of this once aristocratic republic that has morphed into a mass democracy.
Nowadays we're all expected not only to be equal but the same. Diversity is constantly being preached, but its advocates seem unable to deal with the kind of diversity that's more than skin deep. The existence of genuine, deep-rooted, intractable differences over ideas and ideals must somehow be denied or elided.
The differences between us that can't be bridged by a round of kumbaya around the campfire need to be acknowledged and tolerated, but that kind of real diversity upsets the merchandisers of purely cosmetic, capital-D Diversity. So they pretend such differences don't exist.
Hey, we're all really just the same, aren't we?
Like hell we are. Which is why tolerance, the rule of law and the Bill of Rights are so important, so we can be our different selves without bullying others or being bullied by them.
So save your smothering love, true believers who would make us all the same. I'll take tolerance any time. And be happy to extend it, too.
If class is one of the continuing themes of American society, it's also a subject fraught with taboos. Much like that other underlying theme of our culture, ethnicity. Such subjects may be raised only with the greatest care. Which may be why we tend to discuss the influence of class in American society only with members of our own.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Paul Greenberg, editorial page editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, has won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. Send your comments by clicking here.
Paul Greenberg Archives
© 2006 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Jay Ambrose
Michael Barone
Barrywood
Lori Borgman
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Richard Z. Chesnoff
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
Christine Flowers
Frank J. Gaffney
Bernie Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Argus Hamilton
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Ron Hart
Nat Hentoff
A. Barton Hinkle
Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ch. Krauthammer
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Ann McFeatters
Dale McFeatters
Dana Milbank
Jeanne Moos
Dick Morris
Jim Mullen
Deroy Murdock
Judge A. Napolitano
Bill O'Reilly
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Star Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Sharon Randall
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Heather Robinson
Debra J. Saunders
Martin Schram
Greg Schwem
Culture Shlock
David Shribman
Roger Simon
Lenore Skenazy
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Ben Stein
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Dan Thomasson
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
ZeitGeist
Mort Zuckerman

Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Lisa Benson
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
John Branch
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
Matt Davies
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Glenn Foden
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Walt Handelsman
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holbert
David Horsey
Lee Judge
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Jimmy Margulies
Jack Ohman
Michael Ramirez
Rob Rogers
Drew Sheneman
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Scott Stantis
Danna Summers
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters
Dan Wasserman

Tech Q&A
Mr. Know-It-All
Ask Doctor K
Richard Lederer
Frugal Living
On Nutrition
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
|