Elites are safe in a democracy.

"If there's one thing people on both sides of the US' political divide seem to agree on, it's that the country's masses are suffering at the hands of elites," wrote Prof Noah Smith. Who are these elites? "To the people in lower-middle class, the elite may be the upper-middle class people who were once their equals." "Meanwhile, to those upper-middle-class educated folks, the true elite are the super-rich." "And to many among the poor, especially poor minorities, even the working class must seem like elites -- beneficiaries of white privilege, excessive attention and concern from politicians or other unearned benefits." People in the US are hurting and the anger is justified but the problem is "that the anger is aimed in all directions in a confused jumble of blame and resentment". Instead of blaming diverse groups of elites, "what the country needs is a reformist populist movement that focuses on changing the system itself." But that would be a revolution. Perhaps a revolution is only possible when there is one person to hate, so that all the anger is concentrated on that person. The French Revolution was against Louis XVI, who was beheaded. The Russian Revolution was against Czar Nicholas, who was shot, along with his entire family. More recently, Nicolae Ceausescu of Romania was executed by firing squad, and in 2011 Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, of Tunisia had to flee to Saudi Arabia to save his skin. Now that Romania has an elected government people are protesting peacefully against a decree that pardons financial crimes by politicians. There are counter demonstrations, albeit much smaller, in support of the government. Venezuela has been in recession for years. There is shortage of basic necessities, forcing people to queue for hours to buy basic food items. In the last few days 37 protesters have been killed by army and police. Incredibly, there is still support for the socialist policies of Hugo Chavez, who used oil wealth for handouts. What about here in India? Prime Minister Narendra Modi is very similar to the Congress in many respects, wrote Ronojoy Sen. 98 MPs of the BJP have criminal charges against them. In the recent assembly elections, 114 BJP MLAs in UP face criminal charges, while in neighboring Uttarakhand 17 of the 70 candidates fielded by the BJP have criminal charges against them. So, Modi's crusade against corruption is only directed against us but does not interfere with his quest for absolute power. Then there are the handouts, exactly like the Congress. There is the farmers' loan waiver in UP, at a cost of Rs 364 billion, loans will handed out to rural poor, for a total cost of Rs 8.5 trillion, reminding us of Congress 'loan melas', and reservation for lower castes even in promotion, which was struck down by courts during the Congress regime. As long as some people gain the system is safe. That is why the confused anger against so-called elites. So impotent.