Caste in America?

Equality is an oft-touted principle of American life, but I wonder whether we have a de facto caste system. The Indian model roughly divided into priests, rulers, warriors, workers, and untouchables. America is not a theocracy, so there is no priest class at the top no matter how much people whine about tax-exempt churches. We have a definite political class, though, and their enforcers in the police and military have a very real set of special privileges and a societal expectation for reverence. The tax-paying populace, the recipients of government welfare, and the ever-shifting untouchables used to scapegoat every problem are somewhere at the bottom of this modern social order.

The socialists would say something different, I'm sure. Proletariat vs. bourgeois, right? Too simplistic. Too ideological. Too reliant on imaginary associations where none exists. Too quick to lump political plunder with productive entrepreneurial activity.

Our caste system isn't ossified into something entirely hereditary and endogamous, and I don't buy the conspiracy theories about a small number of families running the world, but I know there are people who want to make that happen, and the circles of political power are remarkably insular and consistent. Military families are definitely a thing, and the police and military "brotherhood" rallies together to shout down anyone who questions their wars and enforcement policies. Meanwhile, the middle class bears the burden of taxation, inflation, debt, and obedience demanded by their self-professed betters. The poor are explicitly denied the dignity of self-ownership, and their opportunities are actively thwarted by the government. As for the untouchables, we have immigrants, natives, and anarchists who question the system.

Am I seeing something that isn't there with my overactive imagination and paranoid outlook on life, or do we have a real caste system growing like a cancer behind a facade of egalitarian rhetoric?