Pundit: Trump Won Because of Backlash Against Political Correctness
In the aftermath of what many see as the stunning upset by Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, the exact reasons for why Trump won (or Hillary lost, depending on your perspective) are being very carefully considered.
One pundit over at the libertarian site Reason.com, Robby Soave, has an interesting take: Trump���s victory came about because his voters were interested in repudiating the climate of political correctness that has, for so long now, kept such a stranglehold on speech in the nation that���s supposed to serve as the strongest and best bastion of freedom on earth.
Now, I don���t know how true this is, meaning, I don���t know how much the singular issue of chafing against political correctness was acutely responsible for driving citizens to the polls to vote for Trump. However, the idea that that the repressive thought climate brought about by the growing progressive incursion into society was at least partly responsible for Trump���s victory���is not a tough sell.
While political correctness can mean different things to different people, Soave does a good job (in my opinion) nailing down what we���re usually talking about when we hear the term: ���smug, entitled, elitist, privileged leftists jumping down the throats of ordinary folks who aren't up-to-date on the latest requirements of progressive society.���
Yes, I would say that about sums it up.
I particularly like Soave���s summary paragraph:
���There is a cost to depriving people of the freedom (in both the legal and social senses) to speak their mind. The presidency just went to the guy whose main qualification, according to his supporters, is that he isn't afraid to speak his.���
Like I said, it is difficult to know, with any real accuracy, how much of an influence the PC culture had on the election. It���s fair to suggest, however, that it was something more than nothing, and, in a contest in which the winner and loser were ultimately separated by a relative handful of votes, it is also fair to suggest that it may have well been the difference-maker.
By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large
