A counterfeit of right

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There is something so massive, stable, and almost irresistibly imposing in the exterior presentment of established rank and great possessions, that their very existence seems to give them a right to exist; at least, so excellent a counterfeit of right, that few poor and humble men have moral force enough to question it, even in their secret minds.

Nathaniel Hawthorne - The House Of The Seven Gables (1851)

Hawthorne was right. Many people have a strong tendency to accept established rank and great possessions as a realities they never question. For others to do so can be embarrassing or even offensive. Things could be different but the realities of power plus social inertia say otherwise. What we do with the idea is a matter of political taste.

I’m sure Jeremy Corbyn doesn’t see the NHS or the BBC as existing through established rank and great possessions, but his blinkers are there for a purpose.

I’m sure David Cameron sees banks through their so excellent a counterfeit of right because his blinkers are there for a purpose too.

Neither man swims in in a political environment which could ever lead them to question their own assumptions of established rank and great possessions because neither man has moral force enough to question it, even in their secret minds. Although I'm not so sure about Cameron's secret mind. I don't think he cares one way or the other.