The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy
The meat of the book is a careful empirical analysis of dozens of politically-correct policies and theories, from the “war on poverty” to crime, environmentalism, the public school monopoly, affirmative action, and many others. In each case, Sowell shows how the anointed simply ignore evidence (and common sense), invent vocabulary designed to preempt issues rather than debate them (i.e., referring to the U.S. Postal Service, but not your typical grocery store, as a “public service”), and persistently declare their moral superiority over those who would disagree with them.
Another Thomas, Tom Wolfe, had their number, back to the ‘60s and ‘70s, with a slew of publications as well.