From Babylon and Egypt to Athens, Rome, Jerusalem, and Philadelphia, civilizations are not made by farmers in the countryside or shopkeepers in small provincial towns. Without exception, they are created, defined, and maintained by educated, city-dwelling elites. The American civilization was no exception; it was created and maintained by European-style elites from big cities such as Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Atlanta. This is why when these elites had betrayed the American founding principles, American civilization was already all but lost.