Who controls NIMBYism? Who controls zoning? Who controls how school districts get drawn up? Why do we care about shit like the SALT deduction? Etc. The amount of money they can raise crossed with still having literal voting power is precisely why this bracket is so influential. The top 0.1% have lots of the former but not the latter. Poors have the latter but not the former. Taken in isolation each is powerful (no shortage of corporations lobbying, nor do we ever cut shit like medicare on the poor end) but the professional class is where both intersect to a noticable degree. On the local/state level (which is probably more important to day to day life and societal structure than federal policies) the professional class is king and we are the professional class.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5874109&forum_id=2Firm#49937497)