It would appear from the NY Times this morning that at least the Supreme Court is a creature of "elite" schools of the Ivy kind.  All of the 9 members of The Supreme Court were molded by the law schools they attended, except one.  The latest nominee has also followed that pattern despite the lack of WASP credentials.  Looking at the members of The Court, not all have the backgrounds of family and relationships necessary to own and run America.  But, their schooling does bond them in its peculiar way and, in effect, that schooling owns and runs America.

Now, let us put all of the above aside.  The question is: who owns and Runs America?  I think we all understand and know that "WEALTH" owns and runs America.  Despite the aberrant moment we are having in watching the demise (at least the degradation of the giant auto makers and banks that once set the pace for America's development) of the old order and the muscling of "others" who want to climb the ladder to the top; we are just witnessing a rare insight into a game of musical chairs.

Let us take wealth and break it down into what it can buy.  You certainly can have a lot of things because of that wealth.  Many homes over the globe, yachts and airplanes to take you to them and having your own chefs to present dishes of the rarest kinds at every meal.  But wealth of this kind does not create more wealth. It just spends it.  What wealth has that ordinary people who are poor or have just enough do not have, is POWER.  That is the kind of thing that makes a candidate for judgeship awarded that job. It is also that kind of thing that creates the little kingships of Presidents and all the President's men and women.  The time when such kings said "Off with his Head!" has never been real here in America but the power is implied and lies ready to be used when the time is right.  The time is not yet ripe because there are limitations imposed by the people who say two terms are enough for the Executive and the Legislature but not for the "appointments" to the court systems.  I think that the aberration that does exist is where judges run in elections for their office and is worse than appointments for life.

Who owns and runs America?  The owning is easy but the actually running of the country is PUBLIC OPINION and that is both easy and hard to manage.  Once that opinion is forged it is hard to change.  But we are a people whose minds are made up by catch phrases and slogans.  We do not remember dates but we do remember "Remember the Main" and "the Alamo".  "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" and "He kept us Out of War" show where we place our trust.  We almost understand what "Brown vs. Board of Education in Topeka Kansas means. We like strong leaders and wise old men and wise old women.  There is where the POWER lives.