Elite Echo Chamber Can’t Hear the People (I)

George Will shows how the elite, even if Republican, can misread modern American politics when he writes, “The central principle of republican government is representation, under which the people do not decide issues, they decide who shall decide. The second is: Elections decide not whether elites shall rule but which elites shall rule.” I have argued against Will’s view here, where I say Republicans have been forced to listen to the people in order to recapture power.

Now Sarah Palin is helping everyone understand the national division between elite and masses. Conservative David Frum offers these facts that back Palin and implicitly refute Will:

 [For] Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Joe Lieberman, John Kerry and John Edwards. . . the decisive event of their lives was the letter admitting them to an elite university or law school -- or both.. . . The Democratic Party runs strongest where formal educational attainment is widest. . . Of the 10 states with the highest proportion of college graduates, Obama will almost certainly win at least seven, with only Virginia, Colorado and New Hampshire offering any hope to McCain. Of the 10 states with the lowest proportion of college graduates, McCain will probably win at least nine, with only Nevada contestable by the Democrat. . . Almost 45% of the population of Massachusetts has a university degree, compared to only 14% of the population of West Virginia.

 Since 1990, college-educated America has experienced a sexual counter-revolution. The odds of divorce have steeply declined . . .out-of-wedlock childbirth remains uncommon. To . . . college-educated women, the life story of the Palin family may seem . . . disturbing. [Their] children may get pregnant at 17 -- but they do not carry the baby and they do not marry the father. Teen marriage increases the odds of divorce; teen motherhood interferes with education – so educated America frowns on both. . . In non-college America, however, it’s still the 1970s. The odds of divorce remain as high as ever, and the rate of out-of-wedlock births among white women has jumped past 25%. . . the Palin story.

 Media commentators habitually refuse to acknowledge the implications of this class divide. During the Republican convention, . . . a big “Daily Show” billboard. . . read: “Welcome rich, white oligarchs.” Never mind that surveys of delegates showed that more Democratic than Republican delegates had incomes over $100,000. . . With [Obama,] Democrats have intensified their image as the party of minorities and the upper part of white America. . . the educated. . . By choosing Sarah Palin, Republicans. . .have reasserted their identity as the party of white working-class America.

The American elite has earned its status through educational achievement and hard work, whether in national politics, the bureaucracy, academia, the media, Silicon Valley and Wall Street business, non-profits, foundations, or the entertainment industry. How then, could this group embrace the views of the very people they've worked to separate themselves from? It’s natural to lead, not listen.