One of the unsung, but formidable, reasons for the decline of the American republic is the insulation and class isolation  of the American Elite from the working class. Very few American intellectuals, in academia, government, NGOs, media, and/or entertainment, have personal friends, or relationships with members of the American working class.   This insulation is a new American phenomenon; military service during the Civil War, World War I, World War II meant a co-mingling of intellectuals and the working class. J.D. Salinger served with members of the working class, as did President William McKinley.   Mel Brooks, Irving Berlin, John Ford, and Henry Fonda all served with the working-class; that American service gave American intellectuals insight into the soul of the American working class.   In 1992, with the election of intellectual cum draft dodger, Bill Clinton, the Democratic Party became the party of intellectuals, and Globalists, elitists and trend setters. ...