“My country tis’ of thee; sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my father’s died; land of the Pilgrim’s pride; from every mountainside, let freedom ring.” 

Great lyrics we’ve all been brought up to believe.  Sadly, in our new oligarchy freedom only rings for a handful of our population, those elite individuals we can identify as the ‘plutocrats.  Plutocrats are “an elite or ruling class of people whose power derives from their wealth.”  Some estimates of Trump’s cabinet’s wealth round out at $35 billion (yes, BILLION!!!) while their admitted admissions exceed $13 billion.  In Iowa, Trump told his supporters, “I want people that made a fortune.”  Was HOW they made their fortunes of concern?  Obviously not!

Let’s take Jeff Sessions, Attorney General  nominee.  Jeff entered the employ of the U.S. Government two years out of law school and has remained a public servant ever since.  Now I also entered the government right out of college so it’s amazing to me that a career government employee could amass a net worth of $6 million (unless, of course, he had some really lucrative part-time night jobs).  The same goes for General James Kelly who Bankrate magazine indicates is worth $4 million and that “A government pension is responsible for most of his wealth, according to Forbes.”  (Wow!  How did I miss out on that?)

Then there’s Betsy DeVos who hasn’t really earned anything but inherited her wealth and married into money.  Then…OMG…the several Wall Street gurus who made their fortunes putting the screws to many thousand home-owners (most now FORMER home owners) in the last decade.  But, there’s no question these people have more money than you or me.  Unfortunately, most haven’t a clue as to the role they are supposed to play (except as ‘yes men’ (and women) to Trump and Brandon.  I doubt most could describe what the agencies under their responsibility really do (we know Perry couldn’t) and even name the people they were replacing.

But, as my Trump acquaintances keep telling me, “Get used to it.”  I wonder when they’ll discover it’s not something they really want to get used to.