I do agree there is an over-abundance of arrogance in the self-proclaimed elitists. It's an interesting theory, but I'd suggest an alternative: that those who have had to work to attain wealth value the same, while those who have not (progeny of the wealthy) neither value the wealth or the process of hard work which led to wealth acquisition. The self-appointed elites are those who have grown accustomed to the trappings of wealth but have lost a proper respect for what that wealth represents.

What is even more dangerous, they become enthralled and even addicted to its acquisition even though the methods they employ to that end usually don't involve wealth creation but merely wealth redistribution. Thus when you have a growing populace but a stagnant wealth pool, it does turn into a fight among the "elites" for this wealth because those elites have no concept of a pie that grows through hard work and can satisfy everyone - they have only the notion of a fixed pie being carved up into smaller and smaller pieces. It's a self-destructive and societally destructive attitude.

Just pondering .... is the middle class just a buffer between the elites and the have-nots? Without a strong middle class, there is no ‘support’ for the elites and no protection from the have-nots. The collapse can occur when the middle class stops playing this role, ie. John Galt.

There has been prejudice all over the world all my life. Hate against American Indians, Jews, Poles, Italians, Japanese, Germans, Asians, and even Americans in other countries. When is this crap going to cease?

"But the elites and the political class? They get paid either way. "
If we the People show any courage then the payments to the "elite" will be at the end of a rope or a hail of bullets against a wall.
That is what they have earned and deserve.