"This disposition to admire, and almost to worship, the rich and the powerful, and to despise, or, at least, to neglect persons of poor and mean condition, though necessary both to establish and to maintain the distinction of ranks and the order of society, is, at the same time, the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments."
— Adam Smith, "The Theory of Moral Sentiments"
User
A problem not typically seen in modern U.S.
Perhaps it was in the time of Smith...
but more likely it was a problem of his own society and not of ours.
The idea of "classes" and "nobility"
though not completely absent in the U.S.
are much less influential in the U.S. than in the U.K.
Elwood Blues
I partly agree with Adam Smith; that attitude is a great cause of corruption. BUT, I see zero need "both to establish and to maintain the distinction of ranks and the order of society," in fact I much prefer a society where each person earns their rank.
RepubliCrayon
They could have just wrote hypocrisy.
Everybody does it. And doesn't know it. Must be a poet.
Anonymous
Interesting sentiment.