"It has often been said that power corrupts. But it is perhaps equally important to realize that weakness, too, corrupts. Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many. Hatred, malice, rudeness, intolerance, and suspicion are the faults of weakness. The resentment of the weak does not spring from any injustice done to them but from their sense of inadequacy and impotence. We cannot win the weak by sharing our wealth with them. They feel our generosity as oppression."
Our ruling class are all enablers of the tyranny of the weak; they use it to their advantage.
It’s why they dig Islam. That and oil.
But who are you referring to as our "ruling class." The political "leadership" is riddled with people described in the quotation--as are many in the upper echelons of Corporate management--not, all, to be sure, but certainly those who pose as great public benefactors by uncritically going along with the agenda of those who propose more centralized power as the answer to all human problems.
Being managed by demagogues, not reasoned analysis, is a characteristic not only of the "true believer," but those who do not need a cause, but are afraid to stand up to those who do. (Consider, for example, Corporate leaders from whom Jesse Jackson has successfully extorted large sums. Or consider those wealthy people who "enthusiastically" have funded Obama's attack on American tradition!)
William Flax
I really have no idea what Hoffer thought of Ayn Rand, and I don't know what Ayn Rand thought of Hoffer -- but this concept is basically what Rand's "sanction of the victim" amounts to.
I have never liked her choice of words or her expanation of the concept. I think I get her concept, but her explanation of it never pleased me. Your extract from Hoffer is much cleaner and more direct. The ruling class uses weak people are a lever through which power can be exerted against people who are not weak.
I can't seem to reconcile this with the outrageous success the Left has had in buying off the weak via social welfare. The weak seem to be grateful and empowered by the handouts.
That also holds true with foreign aid, though oppression may not be quite the word.