Liberal Elite

Entry in progress—B.P.
 
Wikipedia: Liberal elite
In the United States the term liberal elite is a political phrase to describe affluent, politically liberal-leaning people. It is commonly used with the pejorative implication that the people who support the rights of the working class are themselves members of the upper class, or upper middle class, and are therefore out of touch with the real needs of the people they claim to support and protect. The phrase “liberal elite” should not be confused with the term “elite” as used by writers such as Vilfredo Pareto and C. Wright Mills. They use the term to mean those who exercise the most political power.
 
The label is essentially a rhetorical device with flexible meaning depending on where in the English speaking world it is used. As a polemical term it has been used to refer to political positions as diverse as secularism, environmentalism, feminism, and other positions associated with the left.
 
The originating usage in the United States is applied with various changes to other English speaking countries and by extension to left-leaning elites in other countries.
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United States
In the United States, the lifestyle of the liberal elite is often considered noteworthy. The term “liberal elite” often carries the implicit connotation that the individuals described by the term are hypocritical in nature. For instance, they are often supportive of busing and opposed to school choice and vouchers, yet many send their children to private or parochial schools to be educated. The liberal elite are often characterized as having an affinity for coffeehouses and European cultures, especially the culture of France. French cheeses and wines, expensive coffee[7], and foreign films are often associated with the liberal elite. This association can be applied to suggest that someone is unpatriotic, and disdainful of American life and culture. Journalist Dave Barry drew attention to these stereotypes when he commented, “Do we truly believe that ALL red-state residents are ignorant racist fascist knuckle-dragging NASCAR- obsessed cousin-marrying roadkill-eating tobacco-juice-dribbling gun-fondling religious fanatic rednecks; or that ALL blue-state residents are godless unpatriotic pierced-nose Volvo-driving France-loving left-wing communist latte-sucking tofu-chomping holistic-wacko neurotic vegan weenie perverts?”  South Park’s creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone used the stereotypes attributed to the liberal élite for comic effect. In the episode Chef’s Chocolate Salty Balls, they portrayed members of Hollywood’s movie industry as being hypocritical and self-serving and having an affinity for tofu, steamed celery, couscous and the products of organic markets. In the episode Smug Alert, they also expressed their disdain of the haughty condescension that San Francisco liberals have towards people they regard as less progressive than themselves, poking fun at the large number of wine and cheese stores in San Francisco on one occasion. The film Team America: World Police also jokes about the liberal elite, specifically about Hollywood celebrities, implying that they live in their own protected niche and are thus unaware of or less knowledgeable about the dangers operating on a international scale. During the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election, Republican candidate John McCain likened Democratic candidate Barack Obama’s celebrity appeal to that of pop star Britney Spears and socialite Paris Hilton[.
 
A political ad from the right wing organization Club for Growth which attacked the Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean summed up many of the stereotypes of the liberal elite: “Howard Dean should take his tax-hiking, government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading, body-piercing, Hollywood-loving, left-wing freak show back to Vermont, where it belongs.”
 
Among members of the country’s intellectual elite, most of whom are members of the professional class not upper class, liberalism remains the most prominent ideology. Fully 72% of professors identify themselves as liberals. At Ivy League Universities, an even larger majority of 87% of professors identified themselves as liberals. Additionally those with post graduate degrees are increasingly becoming more Democratic following the 1992, 1996, 2004, and 2008 elections.
 
In Thomas Frank’s What’s the Matter with Kansas? the idea of a liberal elite is suggested to be similar to the character of Emmanuel Goldstein in the George Orwell book Nineteen-Eighty Four, the fictional hated enemy of the people. Frank argues that anger directed towards this perceived enemy is what keeps the conservative coalition together.
   
Conservapedia: Liberal elite
The Liberal Elite is a term used to describe those high ranking members of society - politicians, college educators and celebrities - who regularly promote the Liberal agenda to unsuspecting teenagers and young people. In Ireland, the Liberal Elite is symbolized by Pat Kenny, a prominent talk show host who displays all the worst aspects of the Liberal Style of debating.
 
The Liberal Elite believe they are superior to others. Not in a physical sense but mentally, they have their high ground and nobody dare challenge. If you challenge the Liberal Elite thinking and beliefs, you risk being ridiculed.
   
The Free Dictionary
liberal elite
n
(Sociology) the group of people in a society who are considered as having a high level of education and liberal ideas
   
New York (NY) Times 
BUSH LASHES BACK ON ISSUE OF ETHICS
By MAUREEN DOWD, Special to the New York Times
Published: May 26, 1988
LAKEWOOD, N.J., May 25— Frustrated by the Democrats’ efforts to tar him with the ethical problems of the Reagan Administration, Vice President Bush tried to make the issue boomerang on them today.
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Mr. Bush’s remarks today on Mr. Wright and on ‘‘the liberal elite’’ were part of an effort to get the Vice President off the defensive on such issues as Mr. Meese’s tenure and to find ways of tarnishing Mr. Dukakis’s public image, which the polls show to be highly favorable.
       
OCLC WorldCat record
Fear of falling : the inner life of the middle class
Author: Barbara Ehrenreich
Publisher: New York : Pantheon Books, ©1989.
Edition/Format: Book : English : 1st ed
Summary: An analysis of the professional middle class from the liberal elite of the 1960s to the yuppies of the 1980s and the amount of power and influence they wield over the American culture.
     
CNN.com
New ads call Kerry ‘rich liberal elitist’
March 08, 2004
With ads by the Bush-Cheney campaign and the liberal grass-roots group MoveOn.org already battling it out on the airwaves, another set of ads was rolled out nationwide Monday, the first conservative attack ads against presumptive Democratic candidate John Kerry.
 
Paid for by the group Citizens United, the 30-second message calls Kerry “another rich liberal elitist from Massachusetts who claims he’s a man of the people.”
 
Huntington (WV) News
July 16, 2006
In Politics, the Right Words Rule, Linguist Says
By Sam McManis
Sacramento Bee
San Francisco, CA (HNN)—Geoffrey Nunberg wants to talk, which is hardly shocking. He is a linguist, after all.
 
And Nunberg, best known as a commentator for National Public Radio’s “Fresh Air,” has a lot to say about how conservatives—with help from the media—have dominated debate by twisting political language to their advantage and using cultural caricatures to turn opponents into effete “elites” out of touch with core American “values.”
 
It’s all neatly summed up in the long and provocative title of his new book, “Talking Right: How Conservatives Turned Liberals Into a Tax-Raising, Latte-Drinking, Sushi-Eating, New York Times-Reading, Body-Piercing, Hollywood-Loving, Left-Wing Freak Show.”
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Nunberg, who finds the whole stereotyping issue mildly amusing, certainly fits the classic “liberal elite” label.
 
Center For Individual Freedom (CFIF)
Can We Please Stop Labeling Liberals “Elite?”
By Timothy H. Lee
Thursday, January 21 2010
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Despite this, the term “liberal elite” persists within the American lexicon.
 
Conservative writers and pundits often mistakenly use the term, and understandably so.  After all, liberals tend to project an air of superiority and sanctimonious condescension, along with their bromides about the “stupidity” of Fox News and other conservative commentators and political figures.
 
Further, liberals themselves embrace the false label of “elite,” because it only reinforces their sense of self-righteousness.
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It may be a difficult habit to break for commentators and even conservatives to stop labeling liberals “elite” or “elitist.”  But as Rush Limbaugh often notes, “words mean things.”
 
OCLC WorldCat record
The Real Liberal Elite: Now that more liberals are as rich as Republicans, do we risk forgetting the poor and working families?
Author: D Callahan
Publisher: Princeton, N.J. : New Prospect, Inc., [1990-
Edition/Format: Article : English
Publication: The American prospect. 21, no. 7, (2010): 33-34
Database: ArticleFirst
Other Databases: SocialSciAbs