A tiny and closed fraternity of privileged men, elected by no one, and enjoying a monopoly sanctioned and licensed by government.

Agnew’s line is a populist attack on concentrated, unelected power—aimed at an elite group portrayed as insulated (“tiny and closed”), self-perpetuating (“fraternity”), and protected by state authority (“monopoly sanctioned and licensed by government”). The phrasing suggests a critique not merely of wealth or influence, but of institutional arrangements that confer exclusive access and legitimacy without democratic accountability. In Agnew’s political rhetoric, such language typically functions to frame opponents as an arrogant establishment and to position the speaker as defending the broader public against entrenched privilege. The quote’s force comes from combining moral condemnation (privilege) with a structural claim (government-backed monopoly).