Elites......................................

I can't predict whether top-down democracy will endure:  but the momentum of events over the past decade and more is pushing the democratic world in a specific direction.  First, the great hierarchical institutions of the industrial age are toppling -- the political parties, as we have seen, are in a state of dissolution, and even chunks of the nation-state are splintering off.  The times favor fragmentation, if not disintegration.  Second, the present elite class has disqualified itself from reforming the system.  It has no interest in taking on the job, and would have no clue how to proceed if it tried.  The elites, like Icarus, appear content to glide above the masses until it's too late to avoid a crash.

-Martin Gurri,  The Revolt Of The Public