>On Nov 2, 2005, at 10:12 AM, Doug Henwood wrote:
>
>>Same one it did during Watergate - the Voice of the Establishment.
>
>Does the wiki def of est (below) fairly represent your meaning? And
>do you mean that they represent a third, and independent party,
>rather than an ally of either side (intel/admin)?
>
>"The Establishment" is a pejorative term used in Western societies
>to refer to the controlling (elite) structures and majority values
>of those societies. The "establishment" is often said to be holding
>a lock on wealth and political power. Mostly est. is used as its
>abbreviation. The WASP's, old boy network, or good ol' boy network
>(in the Southern United States) have roughly the same connotations."
Yeah, except the old WASP elite ain't what it once was. This is the topic of my next book - the US ruling class - and I don't really know what I think about this yet.
Doug