When will top Democratic Party officials recognize that today's electorate is not made up of moderate centrists?

Rather, most Americans are anti-establishment rebels who've been knocked down, kicked out and told that they don't matter. Indeed, our country's true political spectrum doesn't run right to left, but top to bottom. Right-wing/left-wing is an ideology. Top to bottom is life. And most people know that they're no longer in shouting distance of the moneyed elites at the top.

This cries out for a "little-d" Democratic Party that goes right at the billionaires, autocrats and kleptocrats. Instead, we get Chuck Schumer. This Senate Democratic leader's idea of battling right-wing extremism is to say, "I sent a letter" in protest.

Worse, the corporatized hierarchy controlling the once-proud Party of the People reserves its aggressiveness for — guess what? — battling progressive Democratic activists and candidates! Yes, they keep blocking true Democrats who can win, nominating corporate-branded centrists instead — then wondering why voter turnout plummets and an angry electorate reaches for the President Donald Trump Hammer.

They are trying to do it to us again right now in Maine, where a plain-spoken, working-class progressive is poised to defeat a Trump Republican for a U.S. Senate seat. Graham Platner, a maverick, 41-year-old combat veteran and oyster farmer, is drawing huge crowds, enthusiasm, volunteers, money... and grassroots hope. He's a winner — exactly what Democrats need to become relevant again.

Yet, rather than embracing the grassroots enthusiasm to win the Senate seat, Schumer is raising corporate cash to defeat Planter! The party's leader is its own worst enemy. To learn more, go to: GrahamForSenate.com.

WHAT SEPARATES THE MERELY-RICH FROM THE FILTHY RICH?

Roaring 20s novelist, F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote: "Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me."

Well, yes ... they're rich!

But maybe you're doing pretty well these days, counting yourself among the rich. That's charming, but let's check the latest wealth indicator: Do you have a "private concierge?" You might live in a megahouse, have a maid and a nanny, travel First Class — but having a private concierge is what separates you, commonplace millionaires, from the filthy rich.

What do these personal servants actually do? "We fix problems," says one owner of a boutique firm that offers "hyper-personalization" services to select clients worldwide. Want to get a table tonight at a fully-booked restaurant in Paris? Don't call the restaurant — call your fixer, who gets it done. If you're going to a formal ceremony in Hong Kong but — OMG you left your tuxedo back home in Oshkosh. Your concierge will find a courier to deliver it on time.

In addition to dealing with such upper-class urgencies, these "lifestyle managers" also relieve the uberrich of having to cope with everyday details of real life. No need to call a plumber, plan a birthday party, shop for basics and such — that's why you pay about $75,000 a year to have your own handler. They've become such a must-have emblem of luxury that even Chase Bank and American Express now offer concierges to their high-end clients.

What's at work here is a decadent ethic of royal entitlement. It's a grandiose (and socially destructive) assumption of superiority by the filthy rich — who misinterpret their wealth as worthiness. Oh, and we common taxpayers get to subsidize these personal concierges.

To find out more about Jim Hightower and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators webpage at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: Fabian Wiktor at Unsplash