Trumps Victory Is The Triumph Of Business Elites Over Intellectual Elites

[applegrove]

Trump’s Victory Is The Triumph Of Business Elites Over Intellectual Elites

by Michael Wu and Diying Wei at the Huffginton Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-business-elites_us_588623abe4b0e3a7356a4e83

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In the history of the West, there is a long-standing tradition of intellect and meritocracy in politics. In ancient Greece, Socrates once proposed that since shoes are made by shoemakers, countries should also be governed by leaders with wisdom. Plato elaborated in his masterpiece “The Republic,” arguing that in an ideal state, either a philosopher becomes the king or the king becomes a philosopher.

The idea of meritocracy in ancient Greece has been passed down to the modern era. In the Middle Ages, the clerical authority who was in charge of classical knowledge not only controlled the authority of the spiritual domain but also enjoyed a higher political rank over the feudal aristocracy. Enlightenment intellectuals overthrew the clergy’s authority and blazed a trail for the development of a market economy and secular society. Those intellectuals, particularly humanities intellectuals, inherited and developed the clergy’s tradition of spiritual leadership. Especially during the Industrial Revolution, intellectuals reestablished their status of spiritual leadership and profoundly shaped modern Western politics by criticizing various social problems.

The tradition of meritocracy in the West, which has held over a period of centuries, has been subverted.
Intellectual authorities, such as economists and historians, criticize the negative consequences of the market economy and promote human rights and environmental protection. They suggest applying necessary legislative policies that reduce divisions and promote social justice. It is intellectual elites, not capital elites, who have traditionally governed in this way.

In a broad sense, intellectual elites and capital elites have been collaborating with one another. But divisions remain. Capital elites in Western countries can exert great influence on politics but intellectual elites never stop criticizing them. To some extent, intellectual elites act based on Socrates’s belief that rampant desire is harmful and that only intellectuals ― the representatives of “knowledge” ― can achieve justice. Intellectual elites think they are obliged to play the role of the night watchmen of society.



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[etherealtruth]

1. Interesting, thanks for posting

[applegrove]

2. The chinese have an interesting take on things. After 2008, when asked

if they were going to go into banking some chinese government official said "why would we take our brightest people, potential engineers, and turn them into investment bankers to write code so they can take money away from the middle class people" or something to that effect.