I don't know... I'm not convinced it's that complicated of concept to digest.
Like the club metaphor or not, the fact remains that it does the trick.
Pay your dues to Club A, get X-Y-Z benefits. For a non-Club A'er to complain that he has no access to the X-Y-Z benefits, or to label Club A members elitist or selfish because the X-Y-Z benefits are not shared among the masses, evinces a fundamental misunderstanding of the concept of a club.
To put it in terms people here might find palatable: It would be patently ridiculous for one, who has no Delta status at all, to complain that a he or she is not upgraded ahead of, or at least along with, a Delta Diamond Medallion.