American elites conditioned the American people not to foresee the problems that have led to our decline on the world stage.
Our whole organized socioeconomic apparatus expanded into the twenty-first century on this basis: financially, militarily, in entertainment, commerce, culture
"Increasingly, incompetents occupy the upper reaches—perhaps the product of malign designs, but, if the cries of the elite are taken seriously, more often out of a sincerely held belief that justice in some way demands it."