Thom Hartmann: Conversations w/Great Minds - Chris Hayes, Twilight of the Elites P1

[thomhartmann]

For tonight's Conversations with Great Minds - Thom Hartmann is joined by Chris Hayes. Chris is a political commentator - and host of Up With Chris Hayes - which airs Saturday and Sunday mornings on MSNBC. He is also the Editor-at-Large of The Nation magazine and writes on issues central to the liberal community - including what is hurting the Democratic Party - and how the labor movement is changing From Wall Street to Main Street - the wealthy elite have run roughshod over the lives of everyday Americans for the past several decades. How did we get to this point in American history - and what can be done to fix our broken meritocracy?

The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann on RT TV & FSTV "live" 9pm and 11pm check www.thomhartmann.com/tv for local listings

[JDPriestly]

1. Interesting. I first heard the term "meritocracy" while working in a business in which

the management firmly believed they belonged to the meritocracy. I understood it to simply be a rationalization for the fact that these individuals earned many times what their secretaries earned and treated their secretaries and other clerical staff like dirt. I immediately sensed that it was an offensive concept. It was an excuse for selfish behavior.

The talk about the meritocracy seemed to be motivated by the feeling of: "Hey, I've got so much more than you and you know why? Because I deserve it."

By the way, the people who talked like that were all Republicans. The Democrats in the crowd seemed quite embarrassed by the idea of meritocracy.

Anyway, I was pretty sure that they were not including me as one of the meritorious.