Bill Domhoff, author of the best-selling sociological monograph, Who Rules America?, tells this story to illustrate what ruling class power is all about. Speaking of an enormously wealthy and powerful woman, he said, “She knew that if she walked across a room and slipped and fell, there would be somebody there with a pillow to catch her.” Of course, not all people of power are treated like royalty,or act like royalty. In fact, most power brokers in cities such as Baltimore are invisible to the community.
