Mark Twain's 1898 Harper’s essay “Concerning the Jews.” He wrote about what might happen should “the cunningest brains in the world” find political cohesion: “It will not be well to let the race find out its strength. If the horses knew theirs, we should not ride any more.”

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[–]jet199 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

You're basically discribing every upper class around the world. The British aristocrat operates the same way. The upper end of the US political class operates the same way. Etc.

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Traditionally they had a noblesse oblige, though today the ultra-rich are radical individualists and see no duty toward the greater society. They are just as rootless and cosmopolitan, and they are still half of the problem.