I had a friend tell me once that American politics is just a struggle between two the business elite and the academic elite, both of which demonize the other stir up a following and trick everyone into voting for the because of how terrible the other elites are.
I'm not a moderate extremist like him, but I think it's a pretty accurate description.
Though why would there be such a dichotomy between them? Perhaps this can be seen throughout many cultures and ages? For example, there are scholarly texts about the Confucian scholars and bureaucrats in constant clash with the Aristocracy and their eunuchs.
