Contours of Conservative Hypocrisy: Part Three

- by M. Junaid Alam

We take a look at one last right-wing codeword for this series: the dreaded "liberal elite."

(See Part One) | (See Part Two)

Liberal elite:

An all-encompassing mythical boogeyman held responsible for every problem in America, the "liberal elite" is ultimately a projection of cultural-conservative angst. Cultural conservatives consider themselves as victims, people seriously persecuted by a contemptuous, snobbish cabal of better-educated, better-paid people ensconced mainly in Hollywood, academia, and gay clubs nationwide, who indulge in fancy, foreign-oriented brands and are disconnected from practical reality.

The power of this concept lies in the fact that, at its root, it is a class-based complaint. Because the left has been in a state of paralysis, the concept of class antagonism locating the capitalists as the bad guys keeping down working people has been pilfered and re-engineered by the right. The liberals are now painted as the parasites, who are responsible for the (very real) hardships endured by the working-class. Capitalism is not even mentioned in this new model, so millionaires like Bush preserve an aura of being an "everyman's man" even though their income, assets, and power place them far above any such standing, and the reality of capitalism's role in social decay is substituted for the myth of the liberal cabal.

More disturbingly, other ill effects of capitalism's divide and conquer effect on working people - aggravation of racism, sexism, and nationalism - has produced in part a white working class that exhibits all these features in an extreme form. They tend to blame blacks, gays, women, and immigrants for their plight. This is all infused with class anger aimed at wealthier professional workers - who are in fact usually more progressive in their outlook - creating a very noxious and bitter form of right-wing populism.

The mobilization of this populist sentiment has been a very effective tool in bludgeoning even mildly progressive ideas, vis-à-vis the demonization of those celebrities who hold some moderately progressive views. Derided as "limousine liberals," their great crime, apparently, is to have some concern for those less fortunate than themselves, while not themselves being less fortunate. So what we end up with is a bizarre process whereby rich people who are reactionaries use the class resentment of the white working-class to attack rich people who are semi-progressive, thus discrediting the very notion of progressive ideas among a large portion of these white workers.

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M. Junaid Alam, 22, studies at Northeastern University, is co-editor of the radical youth journal Left Hook (http://www.lefthook.org) and can be reached at alam@lefthook.org.