“He is appointed to some petty office in one of the city departments, and presently is himself nominated for an elective office. By this time he has also found his way on to the ward committee, whence by degrees he rises to sit on the central committee …. Once a member of the central committee he discovers what everybody who gets on in the world discovers sooner or later, by how few persons the world is governed.”
~ James Bryce,
The American Commonwealth
Related reading:
James Bryce
Wikipedia