I really think the problem is that we liberals are in general far more intelligent, well-reasoned and educated and will go to astonishingly great lengths to convince people of the integrity and validity of our fair and well thought-out arguments. The audience, in case anyone has been paying attention, isn't always getting it! I suspect the problem is not the speaker - it is most of the audience.
Alleged "liberal activist," Michael Gronewalter, quoted in
From Europe to America: the populist moment has arrived. By
Frank Furedi. Spiked, 6/13/05 [emphasis in original].
The view that the public is too stupid to grasp the high-minded and sophisticated ideals of American liberals expresses a profound sense of contempt towards people. Furthermore, it uncritically transfers responsibility for the contemporary malaise of political life on to the simplistic and uneducated electorate. From this standpoint, it is not the inability of liberal politics to connect with significant sections of the public that accounts for John Kerry's defeat in 2004, but the narrow-mindedness of the electorate. This attitude is not confined to the USA.
Op. cit.
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