Tidningen The Economist fyller i år 175 år. I numret 15 september 2018 kan man läsa följande (av mig mycket förkortade) ledare om hur de politiskt korrekta eliterna har tappat fotfästet. Enligt Economist gäller detta hela västvärlden. Det stämmer för Sverige:

Success has turned liberals into a complacent elite. Europe and America are in the throes of a popular rebellion against liberal elites, who are seen as self-serving and unable, or unwilling, to solve the problems of ordinary people. Western voters have started to doubt that the system works for them or that it is fair. Yet over the past few decades liberals have become too comfortable with power. The ruling liberal elite (den politiska adeln och medföljande media) tell themselves that they preside over a healthy meritocracy and that they have earned their privileges.

The ruling class lives in a bubble. They go to the same colleges, (Bommersvik och Södertörns högskola), marry each other (många ledande inom S är gifta med varandra), live in the same streets (Södermalm), and work in the same offices (regeringskansliet och det välfärdsindustriella komplexet). Loyalty to mainstream parties is corroding. In the first election in unified Germany, in 1990, the traditional parties won over 80 % of the vote; the latest poll gives them just 45 %, compared with a total of 41.5% for the far right, the far left and the Greens (i Sverige tappade S och M stort i septembervalet, medan V och SD ökade).

Instead people are retreating into group identities defined by race, religion or sexuality (värdegrund, allas lika värde, genus). Identity politics is a valid response to discrimination but, as identities multiply, the politics of each group collides with the politics of all the rest (DO:s dom nyligen mot en arbetsgivare där en muslimsk kvinna som vägrat ta i hand tilldömdes skadestånd). Leaders on the right, in particular, exploit the insecurity engendered by immigration as a way of whipping up support. The result is polarisation. Liberals need to spend less time dismissing their critics as fools and bigots (rasist, nationalist) and more fixing what is wrong (muslimsk massinvandring, villkorslösa bidrag, kriminalitet).

They must rediscover their belief in individual dignity and self-reliance – by curbing their own privileges (gyllene fallskärmar, höga arvoden, fria resor, styrelseposter, statsbidrag till partier). They must stop sneering at nationalism, but claim it for themselves and fill it with their own brand of inclusive civic pride. Liberals should embrace criticism and welcome debate as a source of the new thinking.

Ovanstående är ord och inga visor och kommer från en av världens mest ansedda tidningar. Med S:s och M:s valnederlag och SD:s relativa framgång, är det för mycket att hoppas på att den politiskt korrekta eliten tar åt sig av kritiken?