by James Glaser
June 2, 2005

I know, I know, we are not supposed to have an Aristocracy in America, but the fact is, we do. Yes I also know that it is written in the US Constitution in Article 1, Section 9, "No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States."

Anyone ever elected or even appointed to a position with our government has a title for the rest of their lives. I don't care if you were appointed to be Ambassador to the Kingdom of Tonga in 1957, you get on Jim Lehrer's News Hour Program on PBS, and he will be calling you "Mister Ambassador." The same holds true for any other national media outlet.

Bob Dole will never be just Bob Dole again, nor will he ever be Mister Dole. For the rest of his life he will be Senator Dole. And does he ever correct anyone and say, "Ah, I'm no longer a Senator, so just call me Bob." No way, Senator is a title, and those who have tasted power loath to give those titles up.

I saw our President's father on television one day and the interviewer was calling him "Mister President." I could just imagine some guy who never watches the news tuning in and saying, "God damn, is he still in office?"

The new group that has joined the American Aristocracy is the CEOs of major corporations. They don't really get a title per say, but the gulf between their pay and that of the common man certainly puts them is a different class.

Today on Minnesota Public Radio, there was an interview with Ken Melrose. He is Executive Chairman of Toro Corp. (Think Lawnmowers) In March of this year he stepped down as CEO of the company after 21 years. In two of those years he was in the top ten pay wise for all CEOs in America.

When asked if it was hard to talk to the employees when his pay each year was higher than their lifetime pay, he said that it was hard to say "Well Team, We did it!" You know guys in the back of the room were thinking, yeah Ken, we did do it, but you got it. He went on to say that most CEOs, who make a bundle, give some back to the community. He said that he is about to start a foundation that will help out Toro employees who have a personal disaster like a house fire or a sickness in the family.

Of course by setting up a foundation, Ken will be able to keep more of the millions he got in his retirement package, but he really didn't go into that. Also being "head of a foundation," named after you, is pretty much a title of authority and ranks right up there in America's Aristocracy.

People know. If you have your very own foundation, you have Money and in America it is either money or power that makes you an American aristocrat. Yes, foundations do a lot to help America, but they do even more to help those who set them up and you can set it up any way you want. If you like, you can have your offspring run the foundation after you kick off, there by giving your sons and daughters good paying socially powerful positions for life.

People with power and money in America pass that down to their kids, just like it was and still is, in the Royal Families of the world. Look at the Kennedy family as an example.

Yes, it is nice to keep telling the "masses" that "all men are created equal," but that has never been true any place in history and it certainly isn't true in America today.