Yes, the bourgeoisie had a liberal faction, but a faction is not a class.
Moreover, the liberals are not reviled because they failed to defend traditional liberal values but because they supported the election of a black president and the pursuit of pro-abortion, pro-gay, and anti-"bidness" measures.
I kinda get where Hedges is coming from, but that essay is all bollocksed up.
Joanna
Below is a clip from the Chris Hedges essay that Nicholas Ruiz posted:
``The lunatic fringe of the Republican Party, which looks set to make sweeping gains in the midterm elections, is the direct result of a collapse of liberalism. It is the product of bankrupt liberal institutions, including the press, the church, universities, labor unions, the arts and the Democratic Party. The legitimate rage being expressed by disenfranchised workers toward the college-educated liberal elite, who abetted or did nothing to halt the corporate assault on the poor and the working class of the last 30 years, is not misplaced. The liberal class is guilty. The liberal class, which continues to speak in the prim and obsolete language of policies and issues, refused to act. It failed to defend traditional liberal values during the long night of corporate assault in exchange for its position of privilege and comfort in the corporate state. The virulent right-wing backlash we now experience is an expression of the liberal class' flagrant betrayal of the citizenry.''
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_world_liberal_opportunists_made_20101025/