We are all suddenly privy to how the rich operate thanks to the breaking news of the widespread cheating by very, very wealthy people, some of them Hollywood celebrities, to get their children into the best colleges, not on merit, but by bribery.  Most people have long known that the political elite pulled strings to get sub-par students into good schools; the Kennedy family comes to mind.  So do the Gore family and the rest of the self-appointed best.

Those folks take their privilege for granted.  They can pull those strings because they are entitled by virtue of their positions.  And probably sixty percent of those who reach those levels of power got there by similar means: nepotism, money, the social connections made while at Ivy League universities, and incumbency.

Such is the character of a great number of the people who run our government and our financial institutions.  Like those indicted yesterday in the admissions scandal, they are rich, so that empowers them to do whatever they want, even if they have to cheat to get it.  The two actresses were front and center because they are familiar faces, but the rest of those involved are every bit as shameless, every bit as corrupt.

The rub is that they will never grasp the fact that what they've done is wrong.  In their world, it is how things are done among special people.  Their kids will go to the right schools and meet the right people.  They were already set for life.  With a bought and paid for leg up to the right school, they will be among the privileged elite all of their lives. 

The fact is that this level of fraud is rampant and has been for years and years.  There are psychologists, probably in every major city, who for the big bucks will write letters on behalf of normal kids of wealthy parents saying they need extra time for tests, that they have learning disabilities.  This is especially true at the toniest of private schools.

The parents who send their kids to expensive pre-schools for what college used to cost will stop at nothing to ensure their children's success.  Purchasing it is the most natural thing in the world to them.  That they are buying unearned places in a university that may be depriving a lower-income, hardworking, talented student or athlete of a place will never occur to them.  They are entitled, as Hillary was entitled to the presidency, so all her cheating was justified.  It was a miracle she did not succeed, for she is as guilty of fraud as everyone involved in the admissions scandal.

Will these advantaged kids be happy?  Of course, their parents believe.  They will have everything, and to this crowd, having everything is what matters.  They will meet and marry the right partner from an equally privileged family, and fortunes may be expanded.  Clearly, these parents have no clue about character-building, letting their kids fail so they will try again to succeed on their own.  Judging from the video of one the young girls who benefited from her parents' largesse, she has no sense at all of the value of education or the extent of her own good fortune.  Like so many young people today, she has not an iota of gratitude for all the trappings of wealth she takes for granted.

Doheney Library, University of Southern California (photo credit).

The news reports suggest that the children who were the subjects of their parents' scheme did not know of it.  That is ridiculous.  All kids know in their bones what their skills are; they know they did not earn those extra four hundred points on their SATs. 

Will all those admitted under false pretenses be kicked out of those prestigious schools?  Probably not.  The Ivies do not like to admit they made mistakes in admitting any student.  They will carry them, graduate them, even if they are second- or third-rate students.  The stunningly ignorant Ms. Ocasio-Cortez has a degree from Boston University in economics and political science, and the woman cannot put a grammatically correct sentence together, let alone knowledgably discuss any relevant issue.

What was exposed today is a sign of such terrible rot in our body politic.  While it is clear that the two actresses involved are leftists, no one yet knows the politics of the other thirty-six parents charged with a variety of crimes, all of whom paid to get their kids into fancy schools under false pretenses.  While it is tempting to assume they are all leftists, that is not a safe bet since the establishment denizens of the D.C. swamp tend to share a similar and astonishing lack of American values once held dear and taken for granted by their constituents.

Let us hope and pray that shining a light on this despicable practice will bring it to an end, but old habits die hard.  The rich are not likely to give up their access to power and privilege without a fight.