“Words change. When Donald Trump, Arron Banks or Nigel Farage rail against ‘the elite’, they don’t mean rich, powerful men like themselves. They mean liberals. They mean middle-class, degree-educated, city-dwelling progressives; the do-gooders, the tree-huggers, the PC brigade. And that is the definition their audiences hear. They know who Trump and Farage are talking about. People who think they’re so damn smart. Who think they know so much better than the rest of us. Who look down their noses at the rest of us. The swots. The know-alls. The teachers’ pets. That’s what Hillary Clinton looked like to the anti-elitists. The biggest swot in school.” (Michael Deacon in The Daily Telegraph)
Actually, they refer to the very people, the “elite” baby boomers mainly, who installed neo-liberal policies, monetarised every thing in sight, encouraged the gig economy, promoted globalisation, made money while factory workers lost their jobs, pared down the social services, ran everlasting wars, presided over the 2008 financial debacle, talked a good game about racism and sexism, but ignored the jobless and the poor. Unfortunately, the best candidate in the US election, Bernie, didn’t make it, but he got the message right. Not all the “know-alls” know/knew nothing, but too many of the “elite” had it coming to them.
Today we see the outcome. Personally, I shall be working at home, ignoring all the hullabaloo and trying to be peacefully quiet.
The appropriation of class warfare rhetoric and anti-elitism by the populist right is one of the great tragedies of our age. In the US, a plurality of voters chose Clinton- hardly an elite. These voters were disproportionately poor, disproportionately black and Hispanic, and disproportionately women. Far from a liberal elite, these people are actually worse off than your average Trump supporter, even when you factor in working class communities that chose Trump, such as much of the rural Midwest and the Appalachians.
As for the UK, the ascription of the country’s woes to a liberal elite is almost as inaccurate. Sure, the average Remain voter was slightly richer than your average Leave voter. But there were important exceptions. Northern Ireland and Scotland voted Remain, despite being poorer than England. Many working class urban areas voted Remain, such as Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, or the East End of London. Equally, many wealthy areas in the rural South-East voted Leave, such as South Bucks, Sevenoaks, Surrey Heath and Three Rivers. A disproportionate number of young people, ethnic minorities and women voted Remain- all of whom are poorer than average.
I accept that in the US and the UK, intellectuals are far more liberal than your average person. Its also true that socially liberal views dominate in the creative arts: music, films, TV, art, theatre. And sure, there are some wealthy hipsters, who are gentrifying historically working class urban areas, pushing out locals and changing the culture (normally for the worse.)
But the main problem with Western civilisation is not young professionals sipping their lattes in Brooklyn or Shoreditch, annoying as they may be. The problem is with the true elites: those with political or financial power. Their solutions to the challenges of our time- climate change, economic crisis, terrorism, resource scarcity- have all proven woefully inadequate. Instead of peddling anti-intellectualism and casual prejudice, the populist right should focus their ire on those truly responsible for the plight of the working class.
I’d also recommend this article on this very subject: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/dec/23/dishonest-attacks-metropolitan-liberal-elite