'Wise Guardians' and the 'Unwise Rest of Us'

The Downfall of the Elitist

by Robert 

The two-tiered socialist system is, actually, the most basic sociopolitical system on Earth. It's essentially tribal, set up to ensure stability. To prevent the disruption of change it moves its authority into an essentially hereditary mode. You have the 'Anointed' (upper tier) . . . and the 'Unanointed' (the vast majority in the lower tier).
There's no means of movement between these two groups. One class, the anointed, are deemed by birth, education etc. to be Guardians, Rulers, Wise Men. These 'Noblesse oblige' feel they have a duty and a right to govern the unanointed lesser people.
In days past it would be the tribal elders of one clan that ruled over the other clans. In the feudal period it would be the nobles and the church. The elite prevented the lower class from gaining power; kept them uneducated, dependent on the financial and 'saviour' powers of the nobles/church who owned all the means of production (the land), owned all means of hope and salvation from your supposed sins (the church), all knowledge.
Keeping the unanointed peasantry down became difficult only when the population increased beyond the 'organizing capacity' of such a two-tiered system. After all, you have to enforce a system where the peasantry can't become educated, can't get enough knowledge or fiscal power to control their own lives, can't own land, aren't allowed to read, can't own businesses, etc.

Notice in the Middle East - keeping knowledge out of the hands of the ordinary people and confining them to subservience has become difficult with the electronic media. The Middle East is going through its own transition from a two-class to a three-class structure. Not easy, as the two-class is all about the security of stability, while the three-class is about risks and change.
In Canada, the Liberals were dominant for so long because Canadians were kept passive peasants by the Ottawa government which was focused around the crony big businesses in Quebec and Ontario. But with the rise of the West, the ability of Ottawa/Liberals to keep people down became weak. The Liberals were run as an Elite Governance, a set of insiders who all knew each other, were shareholders in the same big businesses located in Montréal-Toronto, used the government to subsidize themselves, and kept Canadians passive. But the West and the increased population and the rise of small businesses changed all this. The Liberals didn't adapt; they kept to the two-tiered structure with themselves as the Elite. They simply settled in this mode, without policies or programs. That's why they've imploded.
As for Layton's NDP and Quebec - that was just a protest vote against the Bloc. Both the Bloc and the NDP are similar: Socialist. Quebec is socialist because it is cocooned within the Canadian economy. Like a spoiled teenager it can pout and insist upon special treatment, knowing that the parents will eventually give in and hand over all the treats. I think there'll be trouble in La Belle province for Layton with Mulcair.

In our Western world, we have the Elite as the 'intellectuals': the arts and humanities grads who so often move into the civil service and run our world. They are isolated from reality, cocooned in their tenured government jobs, with their pensions, their untouchable isolation from accountability. Their ability to live an economically secure life isn't dependent on their ability to run a store, bake a cake, set up a business, etc. It isn't dependent on their willingness to take risks - and a middle class growth economy absolutely rests on individuals taking risks in setting up and competing for new business ventures.

You'll often see these intellectuals flaunt their credentials in attempt to assert their [supposed] intellectual superiority over all around them. To that I say, so what? I've got a Ph.D too and I know many, many, many Ph.Ds who are ignorant, arrogant, isolated bigots, trapped in the emptiness of words. Degrees don't mean much, quite frankly. Anyone can write their opinions and dress it up with lofty words. It doesn't mean a thing other than a spotlight on their own vapidness.

The problem with this system is that it is rigid in its mindsets: the 'Wise Guardians' and the 'Unwise Rest of Us'. This sets up a 'no-change' society; it has no capacity to adapt, to innovate, to invent, to change itself. That requires a middle class, a class based on individual merit, dissent, debate, & exploration. A Growth Society requires a set of people willing to take risks. The Elite are never, ever willing to take risks. They reject risk . . . and growth . . . and change.
Socialists, after all, see themselves as The Wise Guardians. They are socialists because they reject individual power, individual will and actions. After all, they are the Wise People. This is the basic set up of Plato's Republic . . . which Aristotle rejected.