Also, I concluded , with Shane, that the specific term "elite" is dangerously demagogic in the current American context. We have had long threads with list members learned on the pros and cons of American populism. "Elitist" is stock in trade of the right wing right now. It
is used in that demagogic way by the right wing in this episode with Barry. That is the concrete context of this discussion of "elitism". It's used today in a special way by the right wing to confuse the American working class's class consciousness. It is most egregious in that regard in the KKK gambit of actually claiming that Black people are now the elite and whites the "low class". So, in the episode with Barry, where a Black person is pegged as an elitist, you have the KKK propaganda line tout court. This is even worse in the context of Clinton going whole hog appealing to racism for votes. See Saturday Night Live skit this past Saturday night in which they hit a bullseye on that balancing their skit pro Clinton back in March : the woman who plays Clinton says , as Clinton, " My supporters are racists; I'm not saying that's good. It's just a fact." . I saw it excerpted on Keith O's show)
Engels was a capitalist too, straight up exploiting cotton manufacturing workers in Britain, and partaking of the surplus value trail from the slave workers in the US. Marx lived off of Engels. Are you going to call them elitists or part of the ruling class.
Charles
>I would posit that wealth is inherently both exploitative and
harmful.
> Presumably her $2.5 billion is neither sewn into her mattress nor
>buried in her garden, but rather invested into capitalist enterprises
>through which she profits from the surplus labor of others.
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