Liberal elitism is such a bullshit term, used like 'progressive' by the reactionaries with not only limited education but the lack of desire for intellectual curiousity.
Bullshit. I hear it used by liberals who are sick and tired of tinhats in Washington who think they're better than anyone else.
It is usually trotted out by ex-beauty queens or illiterate drop-outs to paint their opponents as out of touch or incapable of understanding the 'common' condition.
Bullshit. It's "trotted out" by ordinary people, liberals included, who get frustrated that people who are supposed to represent them just plain are clueless about the real world.
It is the clarion call of the T-baggers and religious fundamentalists when they are confronted with ideas and facts that don't conform to their doctinaire, solipsistic view of the world.
Bullshit. It's a reality call from people who see proposed "solutions" that have little to do with the problems -- and generally cause more problems, in turn.
The fact is, the right wingers, from grim faced church-goers in bumfuck Idaho intent on snuffing out gay rights to the corporate power brokers who bankroll the Republican party are also elitist to their very core. In fact, the Republicans are proud to identify as the party of big business and white god-fearing folk.
Actually most of the folks you list have just been sold a bill of goods. But the rest are indeed elitist -- the difference being that they think reality is something to be bought, as opposed to the liberal elite, who think reality comes from words on a piece of paper.
Although, considering that money is words on a piece of paper, maybe the two aren't so far apart.
Some of the greatest elitist thinkers are conservative. George Wills and William F. Buckley to name two.
I'm not getting how Wills is elitist.
The very idea of individual wealth over Commonwealth is elitist. The idea of individualism is elitist.
Okay, everything is elitist. Fine.
The openly stated goals of most of the Republican and t-bag legislators are elitist, although, to be fair not intellectually elitist.
Aside from the gay issue, the openly stated goals of the Republican types come down to individual equality. That's the opposite of elitist, by definition.
Of course that makes (classical) liberalism the opposite of elitist, too, and that points out the problem with your arguments: the particular ideology of a person or group isn't what makes him or them elitist, it's the attitude that the person or group is so much better and/or understands things so much better that they have some sort of right to toss the liberty of the individual onto the trash heap and dictate how things are to be.
