"Elite" and "elitism" used to have different definitions, but in the faux populism of U.S. politics today, either word is used to denigrate opponents. This must stop, because  the slur is also being directed at knowledge itself, even though ignorance is a big problem facing the U.S., argues an author.

From an NYT op-ed piece by Susan Jacoby, author of The Age of American Unreason:

An elitist is someone who does believe in government by an elite few — an anti-democratic philosophy that has nothing to do with elite achievement. But the terms have become so conflated that Americans have come to consider both elite and elitist synonyms for snobbish.

All the older forms of elite-bashing have now devolved into a kind of aggressive denial of the threat to American democracy posed by public ignorance. ...

It is past time to retire the sliming of elite knowledge and education from public discourse. Do we want mediocre schools or the best education for our children? If we need an operation, do we want an ordinary surgeon or the best, most elite surgeon available?

America was never imagined as a democracy of dumbness. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were written by an elite group of leaders, and although their dream was limited to white men, it held the seeds of a future in which anyone might aspire to the highest — let us say it out loud, elite — level of achievement.

Read this for a real-life example of how ignorant segments of the U.S. electorate can be.