Keeping in mind that, politically, liberal values are my values...

The point I'm making is how that hegemony's existence does explain the feeling of being oppressed that motivates the participation in the political process of many people who are not liberals--and makes (almost?) any tactic seem morally acceptable. For people who feel that way, to seek to use the state as a counterbalance is the only option to total capitulation, living like a captive, is it not?

I do think that if liberals would at least acknowledge its existence, that would defuse the resentment of many non-liberals. Isn't it understandable for that feeling to be heightened by that hegemony's being unacknowledged, as though it is 'simply the way things are supposed to be'? That goes to the 'smugness' and 'arrogance' to which non-liberals so often refer.

After all, isn't empathy the emotional heart of liberalism?