The fact that Polytechnique is a military school, funded by the Ministry of Defense, shall not be lost on you, of course, although you might consider it as a useful early vaccine...(not that I know that anyone but me has actually gone to Polytechnique)

As with all elites, what makes it credible and effective is whether (i) it delivers to the wide community whatever was promised and (ii) it has internal checks to limit excesses by individuals or cabals.

That still does not make it democratic, but if it is effective, it might be an acceptable trade-off. Real accountability to internal rules is still better than no effective accountability.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes