Once perhaps a witty riposte to liberal excess or hypocrisy, the term "political correctness" has devolved into a reflexive right-wing defense of unmerited privilege. To champion the rights of any but one's own insular clique, to uphold equal opportunity, to oppose the vilification of the weak or sick, to believe that even one's enemies should be treated humanely, to suggest that the government has a positive role to play in the welfare of society, all these are "politically correct."

Those who wield the label "politically correct" ironically represent the dominant strain of political thought in the country. Blame it on John Winthrop and Max Weber, who together gave us the notion that privilege is equivalent to merit. The recent banking crisis should have gone a long way toward shaking this faith, as our generation's "best and brightest" precipitated the country toward financial ruin. But no, neither this nor our bloated, expensive, and inefficient health care system will persuade the American people to express any concern over the fact that the foxes are in charge of the henhouse. After all, the fox is just behaving according to his nature, and suggesting any other fate for the poultry would be hopelessly politically correct.

The politically correct label, with its whiff of the Party and the commissar, is most offensive coming from the highly disciplined, ideologically rigid, and morally sanctimonious American right. They are the one's who would have us all hue to the tenets of their particular superstition (which even they do not observe) and would deny to others the rights they themselves enjoy.

So if we cannot retire the term politically correct, let us at least recognize it as the reflexive tribute privilege pays to virtue.

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