By Tim Wood
A few months ago, I had a little revelation. I have always loved my revelations. You can’t go wrong with a revelation. If it’s a bad one, you learn. If it’s a good one, you can think about it almost indefinitely.
I’m often amused when one social group calls another social group “elitist” (and not in a good way). What exactly is an elitist? My definition is: A person having substantial wealth with direct relationships within power and influence. Webster’s noun definition is: one who is an adherent of elitism: one whose attitudes and beliefs are biased in favor of a socially elite class of people.
If you go by money and numbers, the U.S. upper-middle class (31% of our population) earns approximately $155,000 to $462,000 per year, driven by dual-income professional growth. The broad-upper-income (19% of mostly family households) exceeds double these median incomes. This class, broad-upper-income, is considered the last tier before their ascent into elitism.
So, from where I’m sitting, I (personally) would feel like an elitist being set for life as an upper-middle-class member, having all the necessary insurances, of course. In this view, I guess I believe one-third of our U.S. population is elitist. The 5 to 1 percenters, (that most people cry about) are in some other, fantastical, la-la land; a land I can only imagine … the elite of the elitist?
So, in my head, Fred Trump’s extended families may be elitist, but so are Warren Buffett’s families. The Clintons may be elitist, but so are the Obamas, as well as the Bushes.
Phyllis Schlafly may have been elitist but so is Elizabeth Warren. Mel Gibson may be an elitist, but so was Dolly Parton.
We love or dislike wealth elitists based on their character, generosity, and/or political views, but they are all, still, elitist: They are all very wealthy and secure, living within networks that reach into powerful groups and powerful people.
Highly educated, intellectual people are thought, by many, as elitist. Those folks don’t even enter into my (nor Webster’s) definition. However, the elitist’s money can buy that grand Ivy League education, which can, in turn, lead into wealth-elitism; and this spurred my revelation: Are we in a new, worldwide Gilded Age? Presently, I see two groups: The wealthy, comfortable elites and the rest of us. Don’t get me wrong, I throw my money at them just like most of us; we all have our interests. What this revelation means to me is that, with all the monumental problems that are stagnating us throughout the entire world, presently and into the future, we simply seem to be consuming ourselves.
I intend to watch and read about Zohran Mamdani closely and intensively. Will we witness Mamdani drift from “the rest of us” into that comfortable realm of elitism? I hope and pray not. A non-elitist attitude in leadership is what I’m looking for because, put simply, if our world leaders don’t start working together, everyone may be doomed; if not now but perhaps sooner than we may think. It should also be noted that around 70% of our U.S. Senators are millionaires and around 50% of the House members are as well.
If you give it much thought, perhaps elitism is all about what a family and their networks stand for or against, and that is an important question: Where are our (your) leaders leading us? It’s time to pay attention to those insights. There’s nothing wrong with supporting an elitist, just make sure they don’t, even unintentionally, suppress the rest of us.
Tim and Kristy Wood moved to Beaufort in 1974. He worked as a carpenter in both restoration and new home construction, as well as operating a shop specializing in custom woodwork, Wood on Wood Specs. He is semi-retired, involved with fine woodworking and formerly sat on the City of Beaufort Zoning Board of Appeals.