In George Orwell's "1984." he defines three classes of citizens:

1) 2% belong to the Inner Party. They call the shots and get most of the good things.

2) 13% belong to the Outer Party. They serve the interests of the Inner Party, and are given a few good things.

3) 85% are the proles. They do all the real work, and put their hopes on winning the lottery.

We can see this arrangement in so many societies, past and present. The growth of the middle class after WW2 was an aberration of history. We seem to be going back to Orwell's 1984.

The best Medium article to describe the social/political forces is here:

https://medium.com/the-atlantic/the-9-9-percent-is-the-new-american-aristocracy-2237e8213fd

I encourage all readers of this thread to spend an hour on this lengthy article.

The quote "Hang in there. Pay attention. Seek the truth. Speak the truth, gently but firmly" could suggest looking into new ideas--rather than trying to fix the old. We need a new "Magna Carta".