What fascinates you? [serious]

The upper class. How people rise to the upper class, how they remain in it, how they make sure their children remain in their class. I'm a lower-middle class college student. Therefore, I can't speak from personal experience here.

I read every online article I can find about the Ivy League, and how wealthy people live, but I try to think philosophically about it. Upper class people, in the first world, live a life of paradise: they live in beautiful mansions, in low-density, green neighborhoods, or in high-rise, desirable locales. Their wealth gives them the freedom to perform the work that they love, to create research institutes and charities, and to pursue their own interests in general. They can afford the best education on the planet for their children, then use their networks to help them land cushy jobs. Upper class people don't have to worry about their next meal, paying rent (they own their places anyway), bills. Overall, the upper class is at the very top of the Maslow hierarchy of needs, which is self-actualization. They can fulfill their full professional, intellectual, physical, emotional, and social potential, something which I would like everyone to be in a position to do. They represent the best society has to offer. Top scientists and academics, top intelligence analysts, computer scientists, businessmen, entrepreneurs, etc. are part of the upper class. If every honest and decent person could have the same opportunities as someone from the upper class, we could transform our planet into a galactic Eden.

Throughout History, the salvation of many countries came from members of the upper class. The founding fathers of the United States, such as George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, were all in the upper class of their time. The man who saved Great Britain in WWII, Winston Churchill, came from the upper class. The man who tried to assassinate Adolf Hitler in the July 20 Plot, Claus Von Stauffenberg, came from German nobility. John F. Kennedy, whose efforts proved vital in advancing the cause of civil rights, came from one of the whitest, wealthiest American families you could imagine. FDR fits the same description. I could write pages over pages about it, but my thoughts are still much fragmentary and unrefined.

/r/AskReddit Thread