Americans like the simplistic style of homespun, down-to-earth persons who are of the people, by the people and for the people kinds of representatives. You know - someone like the way we imagine Abe Lincoln was. Let us look at a new Elite group. These people know how to have a buck, make a buck and use a buck to sway representatives of the people. This new Elite has become more entrenched and more powerful near to and in the halls of our government. These people are unlike Abe Lincoln. This “Elite” also works on the Justices who determine the constitutionality of laws.

This new elite is different from the effete, intellectual progressive liberal types who once directed public opinion.  The backcountry bumpkin who makes good like Jimmy Stewart in first half of the Twentieth Century movies can be compared to city slickers of any era.  If you ever watched the “Green Acres” television show you probably enjoyed Eddie Albert being conned by Mr. Haney who had hundreds of moves to outwit the city boy.  In the world of Washington today the Abe Lincoln rail-splitter without a fancy university education would not be able to show up refreshingly wholesome against the backdrop of the sharpster lobbyists who are a plague infesting Washington. They have a trade and know every trick of it. The dispensers of baksheesh also found a home near every huge corporation and foundation - where the money is.

That is the point of this essay.  This Elite has special knowledge of how to spread favors and has the knack to persuade holders of purse strings to listen only to it.  This group of specialists has no electorate they represent. They just know how to sniff out the seat where power sits. This group is composed of paid dispensers of favors or, if you will, it controls a lot of money and spreads little bits of “baksheesh” where it will do its bosses a lot of good.  It is little things like baksheesh given to the right person upon which hinge momentous events.  Surely, we remember the nail, the shoe, the horse, the battle and the war that was lost because that horseshoe fell off the bottom of a horse’s foot. The power of a present to the right person at the right time is like that nail in the horseshoe.

There is a curious linkage between the old custom of giving "baksheesh" that still operates in the Eastern feudal societies and the soldier of the rich who want the rich to stay that way.  Another name for these specialists, this elite, is “power brokers".  The lobbyists have the power to find ways to enrich lawmakers and executives who are supposed to do the bidding of an electorate.  This is purely and simply buying and selling offices, an immoral if not illegal practice. These lobbyists have their offices down the street from our elected officials and openly try to influence our representatives in our houses of Congress, in the White House and the Supreme Court.  The special pleaders of special causes have always been with us just like the poor. Nevertheless, they have the power invested in dollars of special interests. The dance of the lobbyist and influence peddler is a smirking one because no one pleads for the poor.  They know who has the power and how to influence them.

Baksheesh is money or oil spread on troubled waters to gain favors.  The rich and famous have their own Public Relations specialists to keep them rich and famous.  The voter, who is indeed special among people who have the right to vote, is pivotal.  Voters are swayed in favor of the special pleaders who not only dispense baksheesh to them but also convince them that their envy of the rich and famous is perfectly all right. They use the mantra of “taking care of the ones at the top is good for the ones at the bottom”.  Taking care of Big Business, Big Oil, Big Philanthropic Foundations, Big University Research Departments and just plain old Rich Folks is the job of this elite and they do it well. They have succeeded in their job by spending a little walking around money as baksheesh. This will tickle the cockles of the hearts of the poor folks and the few who vote down at the bottom of the pyramid of power.

It didn’t take a genius to figure this out.  They are out in the open and openly paid well to do the bidding of the rich and powerful and Supreme Court approved Republican Party.  This party isn’t afraid of class warfare for it is right in the middle of it with its lackeys, the new elite. They can break the lawmaker or executive who want to honestly give service to the folks back home. By the way, the Democrats have them too.  They just haven’t learned how to use them or they just don’t have the money to afford the good ones.

It is a troubling role of a special few.  I think the New Elite is a permanent part of our landscape and it interferes with the workings of honest and good government.