It's a Small World, D. C. Version

The 1962 song Little Boxes by Malvina Reynolds describes a neighborhood of commonality, where all is the same except for the colors. It opens:

Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky-tacky,
Little boxes, little boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

I'm particularly reminded of the song when thinking of Washington, D.C., where nothing seems to change within our ruling class, no matter the season, the decade or the administration in power.

The second verse:

And the people in the houses
All go to the university,
And they all get put in boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
And there's doctors and there's lawyers
And business executives,
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

Paul Mirengoff over at Powerline makes the point with regard to Mr. Obama's preening claim to history with a nominee for a third Supreme Court seat for a woman. Paul points out:

If Elena Kagan is confirmed, as she is expected to be, the Supreme Court will contain three female Justices. And it will be a diverse group of women too -- one originally from Brooklyn, one originally from Manhattan, and one originally from the Bronx.

Then, there's this thoroughly depressing observation by David Bernstein, one of Eugene Volokh's Conspirators

The president went to Harvard, and barely defeated a primary opponent who went to Yale. His predecessor went to Yale and Harvard, and defeated opponents who went to Yale and Harvard, and Harvard, respectively. The previous two presidents also went to Yale, with Bush I defeating another Harvard grad for the presidency. And once Elena Kagan gets confirmed, every Supreme Court Justice will have attended Harvard or Yale law schools.

I know that Harvard and Yale attract a disproportionate percentage of America’s talented youth, but still, isn’t this a bit much? Are there no similarly talented individuals who attended other Ivy League schools, other private universities or (gasp!) even state law schools. (emphasis added.)

To put it more directly, every single President since our last truly successful one has been a graduate of one of two schools. Ditto, every single Justice on the Supreme Court. Every. Single. One.

No wonder they haven't the slightest idea what's going on in the rest of the country.

And they all play on the golf-course,
And drink their Martini dry,
And they all have pretty children,
And the children go to school.
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university,
And they all get put in boxes
And they all come out the same.

And the boys go into business,
And marry, and raise a family,
And they all get put in boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

The systemic arrogance of little boxes.