The trouble with our brief against elitism is that it is itself elitist and condescending...

... or so writes Ben Kunkel in a food for thought piece for N+1 magazine. Kunkel punctures the comforting illusion that greater communication with and respect for the "moral values" of the Bush voters is our ticket out of the wilderness. We should instead, he argues, treat Bush voters like the responsible parties they are, and "despise and fear them as we do their president."

While I sympathize with his points, I would also point out that the "brief against elitism" is also a bit of self-flattery on the part of many liberals, almost a form of upward mobility. "Woe is me! I am hated for being so cosmopolitan and gay-friendly. Let me cry into my latte." It is unseemly to engage in too much of this at a time when the nation overall is experiencing wrenching downward mobility. As Tim Stewart-Winter points out, "people in low-wage service-sector jobs can't simply be cast as nameless doormen who give consoling hugs."

As a Michigander, let me also criticize once more the red state/ blue state drivel, which, as Thomas Frank points out, only works to Republican advantage. A lot of the moaning over the election results, my own included, is starting to look like the narcissism of small difference. (The U.S. and Canada, for example, are more alike than they are different, however 'enlightened' Canada may be.) Most Kerry voters are not elite and many live in red states and swing states. Most probably do not read the New York Times. For all I know, many have a lot of cultural or moral values that I disagree with. Lord knows my Mom and I disagree about a lot of "moral issues." But if we tar such people with the same brush as actually-existing Bush voters, then I think we will be in even deeper trouble.

I don't want to go into denying reality here, but in all the swing states and even many solidly red states, what the Republicans won was not a cultural mandate but a razor-thin victory in an almost evenly balanced struggle for power. Due to their electioneering wizardry, they have perfected the art of reliably winning these razor-thin victories, and benefiting from America's winner-take-all system. So I'm not suggesting their victories are some sort of fluke. But I do want to forcibly object to the apparent consensus that this election indicates an overwhelming cultural legitimacy for the far-right that we need to kow-tow to. Now getting us to believe that would be the real victory for Bush.