Wikipedia on the "Establishment"

According to Wikipedia:

The Establishment is a term used to refer to the traditional ruling class elite and the structures of society that they control.

Through these "structures of society that they control," they control society itself... or at least have more control than the rest of us. Thus, if we want to change society, and the establishment does not want those changes, we have a conflict. Here in lies the motivation for this blog's title "Challenge the Establishment."

Because the establishment class is closely associated with wealth, that "conflict" to which I refer naturally includes a conflict among classes. It is taboo to speak of class conflict (class war) in the United States. This is due, in part, to an establishment that has helped perpetuate a myth that classes don't exist in the US. We are led to believe that, even if income and wealth differ among Americans, this is simply part of the American Dream playing out with different timing for different people. We are told that such differences are petty and that we are all bound together as Americans with a common "national interest."

Ah, but that "national interest" differs for different wealth classes. Here's an example. The US families that have benefited from United Fruit's corporate exploitation in Central America had the "national interest" of suppressing the democratic dreams of peasants in those countries. Their "national interest"was to support the local establishment that would use their power to keep foreign corporate taxes low, allow damage to the environment, maintain exploitative labor laws and allow the US military to participate in crushing the aspirations of the peasant class of those countries. Ironically, the grunts in the US military were typically themselves drawn from the lower class of our country. Hence the phrase "rich man's war."

I could go on, but won't. Read MORE on Wikipedia's take on "the Establishment."