In an earlier blog I discussed Thomas Piketty’s projections of a long-term division in our economic system with the growth of an even more powerful hereditary elite. I pointed out that this is not likely to be true for America which eliminated its hereditary elite in 1960.
I have been asked by my readers and friends whether it is possible for an hereditary elite to return in the United States.
I see four reasons that will keep it from happening.
* First and foremost, Americans have begun to take meritocracy for granted. We abhor nepotism.
I see no potential for a rejection of meritocracy by Americans. Americans who travel abroad, in a few cases, recognize the hereditary elite in the other parts of the world. When they return to America they return with a new appreciation for our society.
* Second, the traditional institutions that helped maintain an hereditary elite, and still exist in most of the world, cannot be rebuilt in the United States. The educational system, no matter how elite oriented, still requires merit for a school to be considered prestigious. Private clubs are gone except for sham imitation clubs, Americans simply cannot feel comfortable with someone else simply because they are rich or they are the child of a rich person. ‘Exclusive’ is just a brand concept or a phony pose.
* Third. The institutions that were vital to getting rid of the incompetent child and rewarding the most competent, for a century, depended on sending the children to the colonies to sort out the most competent ones. The colonies are gone.
Money doesn't buy anything exclusive in our society. Or put another way, money does buy a private jet or mountain home, or a time with a politician or an island but it really doesn’t buy prestige or respect.
Everybody has children whose competence is genetically determined to be the average of the population. It is possible to pass on political skills to an average child but it is very difficult to pass on business competence necessary for maintaining the family wealth.
* Fourth, along the same lines. Wealth is subject to many erosions including drugs, fast cars, social climbing women, and con artists. Also mental illness.
I don't see much chance that America's monetary elite will be able to reestablish itself as an hereditary class. The idea that someone is part of an ‘elite class’ for reasons of heredity, is too farcical to be credible in America.