Taken together it really does look like a conspiracy of elites vs commoners, but it’s really just elites individually and in small alliances doing what they think will benefit them individually. No elite will support a system they can’t personally control. they only take advantage of parts of it that benefit them, and try to create more of those parts. Collectively this makes it look like they’re all working together, until some issue comes up that benefits one and hurts another. Then they throw each other under the bus, which sometimes benefits the rest of us.
Mutually Assured Dominance!
Taken together it really does look like a conspiracy of elites vs commoners, but it’s really just elites individually and in small alliances doing what they think will benefit them individually. No elite will support a system they can’t personally control. they only take advantage of parts of it that benefit them, and try to create more of those parts. Collectively this makes it look like they’re all working together, until some issue comes up that benefits one and hurts another. Then they throw each other under the bus, which sometimes benefits the rest of us.