It is not Democrat or Republican

By Jim Thompson
HCP columnist

It is not Democrat or Republican – nor liberal or conservative. It is the elites versus the rest of us.  

Back when I was in high school, it was called the “in crowd,” and there was even a hit song about it. No matter when you were in high school, you remember the crowd that was “in the know,” and then there was everyone else. In the adult world, it has become the elites versus the rest of us.

There are elite conclaves around the world. Here in the United States, it is Washington, D.C., with minor outposts in each state capital. In Europe, it is the EU. Annually, it is the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, whose annual meeting just concluded this past week.

How can you tell the elites from the rest of us?  

They are the ones who do all the things they tell the rest of us not to do. They tell us to walk to save the planet while they take their private jets. The elites control us (if we let them) by selling us hysteria. All the elite schemes have hysteria as the foundation principle…the idea if we don’t immediately change our behavior, treasured items will become scarce, the earth will die, something along these lines.

Can I give you examples of this hysteria? Most certainly. The characteristics of all these forms of hysteria is that they have some redeeming elements; yet, when taken to the level the elites push on us, they have no basis in fact.

Things that come to mind include recycling, climate change, DEI (I discussed here a few weeks ago), carbon dioxide, gas powered cars, banning fossil fuels, Covid 19 precautions and on and on. All of these have a noble element to them, but when taken to the extreme, become hysteria. Some would include eating meat, other animal products and other such matters.

These are how the elites control us and separate us, from each other and our money (mantra— "we must all must make sacrifices to achieve these vitally important goals”).

Another trait of these hysterias is that voices who question such ideas are shouted down and ostracized. The elites are the authorities, the rest of us can’t possibly know what we are talking about.

Then, there is the perpetuity of these programs – they never end. We never achieve the vital end points of any of the hysterical subjects, they just go on and on and on. Get close to the goal, and the goalposts get moved.

One can always count on new hysterias being developed, too. Again, like high school, there must always be fresh subjects to lord over the masses.

Is there any hope of shedding the shackles of these issues? Yes. The new president of Argentina is a bright spot. So is Elon Musk, who gets it that freedom is more important than socialism. On the populist level, the farmers of the Netherlands and Germany have risen and demanded an end to the onerous dictates being put on them for the sake of climate change.  More power to them.

What can you do? Quit automatically believing what you see on television and in the mainstream channels on the internet. Test what you hear against your own street-smart common sense. One of the problems today is that the media comes to us in many varied ways with the assumption of authority just by means of the forum in which they reach us. 

Think about the days before radio, television and the internet – the elites could not as rapidly disseminate their silly ideas with near the rapidity nor pretense of authority that they use today.

Think for yourself, and challenge everything you hear. You don’t have to follow the “in crowd.”

Jim Thompson, formerly of Marshall, is a graduate of Hillsboro High School and the University of Cincinnati. He resides in Duluth, Ga. and is a columnist for The Highland County Press. He may be reached at jthompson@taii.com.