The Uncivil War: How a New Elite Is Destroying Our Democracy

Book Description
The New Elite are the self-proclaimed smartest people in the land, a test-score meritocracy that believes the consent of the governed has been made obsolete by th SAT. Lebedoff says the real fight is between those who believe in majority rule and those who believe in rule by experts.

From the Publisher
This controversial book describes how the New Elite-a self selected class whose members believe they know what's good for the rest of us-has been systematically attacking our tradition of majority rule. The capture of our political parties by extremists, campaigns based on anger rather than issues, laws created by unelected judges, congressmen immune from defeat, and an alienated and ignored electorate all represent a calculated effort of a new class to replace the public will with its own.

About the Author
He was born and raised in Minneapolis, where he currently lives with his wife and three children. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota and the Harvard Law School and the author of five books, including the prize-winning Cleaning Up.


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Who are the New Elite? They are those, Lebedoff asserts, who think they're smarter than everyone else and that this has been scientifically proven by test scores. Accordingly, they're busily replacing majority rule with rule by themselves. The public senses this, and so we've changed the way we vote. Issues now count for less than class identity. Voters reject candidates perceived to be closest to the New Elite. During the 2000 election, fewer people were bothered by George Bush's ties to big business than by Al Gore's perceived membership in this new class. This is a new kind of class war, being fiercely fought. Elections are now not so much between conservatives and liberals as between those who believe in majority rule and those who believe in rule by expert -- between those who rely on experience and those who rely on theories. The Bush-Kerry election will be won by the candidate who best understands these distinctions. The Uncivil War tells us not who will win, but why.


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