Why Our Elites Stink

Again, I have to credit The Wasp Manifesto for this one. 

I love David Brooks.  If he and Mark Shields shared a Presidential ticket, I would vote for them in a heart-beat--regardless of who headed the ticket.

But onto our topic for today: meritocracy.  Below is an excerpt from David Brooks' article, "Why Our Elites Stink."  (Obviously, click on the prior link for the full text--it's well worth the read.)


"Over the past half–century, a more diverse and meritocratic elite has replaced the Protestant Establishment. People are more likely to rise on the basis of grades, test scores, effort and performance.

 

"Yet, as this meritocratic elite has taken over institutions, trust in them has plummeted. It’s not even clear that the brainy elite is doing a better job of running them than the old boys’ network. Would we say that Wall Street is working better now than it did 60 years ago? Or government? The system is more just, but the outcomes are mixed. The meritocracy has not fulfilled its promise."

 

"The WASP Ascedancy"

I posted, the other day, an excerpt from a posting by The WASP Manifesto.  As I work my way through old posts, I find some great stuff.  I am sincerely impressed by this blog.  If you have the opportunity, you should check it out.

Below is an excerpt from a posting of Joseph W. Alsop's article, "The WASP Ascendancy."  The following paragraphs really hit a chord with me:


"The greatest advantage, I should be inclined to say, was that the young had their careers laid out for them in advance so there was no foolish waffling and wavering about what to do. If you had special talents in science or architecture or scholarship or some other respectable pursuit, you sought very hard to get to the top of the tree you had chosen for yourself. If you had no such inclinations you could then choose between the various ladders that led to a respectable or even a high place in the WASP ascendancy of your time. The ladders were essentially the various professions, headed by the law, plus businesses of the kind then held to be respectable, with finance and banking at the head of the list.

"It’s too easily forgotten now, or at any rate it used to be too easily forgotten by the young people who complained this or that 'doesn’t turn me on,' that any healthy man is 'turned on' by the mere act of putting his foot on the lowest rung of the ladder. If he is a serious and ambitious young man he will then wish to get to the top of the ladder, in short to achieve a conspicuous success. These were the reasons why young men of the WASP ascendancy did not suffer from the kind of inner anguish and self-questioning that is all too common today. Even guilt, I fear, was an almost unknown quality in the WASP ascendancy, although its members had plenty to be guilty about, I suppose. Certainly the young people whose parents and grandparents formed the WASP ascendancy appear to me to be extraordinarily guilt-ridden."

...

"Above all, if you belonged to the WASP ascendancy, you knew pretty well who you were. I have never to this day understood the phrase “identity crisis” or, indeed, understood why people had identity crises. But this, again, is probably another sign of the narrowness and provincialism that too often marked the ascendancy in the old days."

Where I'm From

I just discovered a great blog, The WASP Manifesto.  It is incredibly well-written and thoughtful.  One of his (I say "his" although I'm not certain, as the blog is anonymous) early posts, entitled "Happens Every Day" (October 1, 2009) deals with the importance of community to WASPS.

It is definitely worth a read. I especially like this line: "If Middle America spent on beach cottages (on whatever beach or lake) what it spends on cruises, Middle America might find itself much more widely contented."  Coming from the Mid-West, all I can say is, "Amen."