People who excel at the national level form the elite of a nation. It is composed of exceptional figures of that nation who are representative of its highest sectors of activity and who have corresponding relationships.
For example, such an interrelation is manifested when a president invites outstanding figures in the fields of politics, economics and culture to a ball or banquet at the White House.
Most elites will not achieve international stature, however those who do, constitute so to speak, an elite of elites without ceasing to be a national elite. Below the national elite are successive layers of lesser elites in which this interrelation repeats itself, until we finally reach the local elites.
Consider a city that boasts of a military academy, a theological institute and an art school. The prominent people of the city would tend to entertain the higher academic staff of these schools in their homes, thus forming a local elite. The conviviality in those relationships would not be as elevated as the national elites, but would be analogous to it.
This hierarchy also implies two continual movements. One is in the vertical direction, whereby people of real merit can rise from one level to another. The other is in a horizontal direction, whereby people of the same level complement one another from moral, cultural and other points of view. This double process attains a notable richness in countries with an authentically Christian civilization. This is because Christian charity, with its clearly supernatural mark, has a peerless efficacy in fraternally uniting men.
Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, Nobility and Analogous Traditional Elites in the Allocutions of Pius XII: A Theme Illuminating American Social History (York, Penn.: The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property, 1993), American Appendix, pp. 184-185.
Editorial Comment:
This article explains that worthy individuals can ascend to higher elite levels via vertical movement and help complement each other within their respective level with horizontal movement. This happens in a properly constituted elitist society, especially one that is infused with Christian charity.
This dual movement permits good elites to spread their beneficial influence over society in whatever level they find themselves: local, regional, state, national or international. This makes for a true, strong and effective leadership. The social fabric thus created, is lasting and very resistant to the howls of the pseudo-elite celebrities from the worlds of Hollywood, sports, entertainment and politics.
A hierarchy is formed through this process beginning with the local elites and extending through successive higher circles to the most quintessential elites. This graduated and continuous scale of elites constitutes the structure of a healthy elitist society wherein the highest circles develop a lifestyle and a human type that harmonically influence the lower levels. Historically, this is the type of elitist society that was formed in the West in the molded from Christian civilization.
A hierarchy is formed through this process beginning with the local elites and extending through successive higher circles to the most quintessential elites. This graduated and continuous scale of elites constitutes the structure of a healthy elitist society wherein the highest circles develop a lifestyle and a human type that harmonically influence the lower levels. Historically, this is the type of elitist society that was formed in the West in the molded from Christian civilization.
A hierarchy is formed through this process beginning with the local elites and extending through successive higher circles to the most quintessential elites. This graduated and continuous scale of elites constitutes the structure of a healthy elitist society wherein the highest circles develop a lifestyle and a human type that harmonically influence the lower levels. Historically, this is the type of elitist society that was formed in the West in the molded from Christian civilization.