Men and women are more alike than different, but boy, do those differences make a difference. Liberals and Conservatives are more alike than different, but boy, do those differences make a difference. Both Left and Right have deeply conflicting, but equally heartfelt visions of what we want our world to look like. What we will do on November 8th is vote for that philosophy we would most like to see guide our country. To get that philosophy we have to attach a name to it. This election cycle the names are Hillary and Donald.
Where did we get our social, moral and political philosophy? Where did we get our view of the world? Were we born with a world view (nature)? Did we learn it through life experiences (nurture)? Did we just figure it out all by ourselves (Rationalism)? How we get our philosophies does not seem to be "settled" science. All we know is we all have one.
Much of this article is based on the writings and research of Jonathan Haidt in his book, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided By Politics And Religion. Haidt claims in our human nature, we have six psychological systems. They are:
CARING-- caring for the vulnerable, sensitive to signs of suffering, despising cruelty, and caring for those who suffer
FAIRNESS-- It's about equality and proportionality but primarily proportionality. It means people getting what they deserve and not getting what they don't deserve.
LOYALTY--challenge of forming and maintaining coalitions, sensitive to team players makes us want to reward team players and punish those who betray the group.
AUTHORITY--being sensitive to rank or status, forge relationships that will benefit us in the social hierarchy
SANCTITY- Feelings that some things, actions, and people are noble, pure and elevated; others are base polluted and degraded.
LIBERTY--make people notice and resent any sign of domination, the urge to band together (freedom fighters) Thus the Declaration of Independence.
Haidt, a professed Liberal, came to the conclusion that Liberals have a three-foundation morality: Caring, Liberty, and Fairness.(Fairness at the bottom). Conservatives have all 6.(Care at the bottom). This is not good nor bad, it just is.
When two people engage in political discourse, the secret of success is to see the other,s argument from their point of view. We don't do it often because both people readily shift into combat mode, and off we go. What I hope to do is give you Haidt's evaluation of the driving philosophies of both Liberals and Conservatives and maybe both sides can see the other side is not wrong, just different, and maybe we treat other people's political views like we treat other sexes. We may not understand the views but we still love the people.
Here are Haidt's study conclusions. Of course, we all don't match everything, but I feel it's pretty darn close.
LIBERAL: being Liberal is seen as, (their brand is), being cool and righteous. Obviously ethical, They march for peace, civil rights, workers' rights, and secularism. Liberalism simply wants to help people . They concern themselves about fairness and social justice. Income redistribution is based on fairness. Fairness implies equality. The Left's idea of equality is equality of outcomes. Small examples of equality of outcomes are; participation trophy, no scores for youngsters sporting events, elimination of games like dodge ball and musical chairs etc. More significant examples of the equality of outcomes are: equality of outcomes cannot be obtained in a capitalist society. Capitalism is in the end, predatory--a moral society will be socialist i.e. people helping each other. This is why Liberals favor higher taxes on the rich, high level of services for the poor and sometimes a guaranteed income for everybody. The Left has a morality that protects individuals and their rights. The Left's loyalty is to individuals without regard to national or other allegiances. A Liberal's motive is neophilia (attraction to new things) openness to experience. open to new people, music, and ideas. The idea of Chasity is set aside as outdated and sexist. Liberal society would be peaceful, open and creative place where diverse individuals would respect each others' rights and band together voluntarily only to help those in need or to change the law for the common good. The Left generally celebrates diversity, supports immigration without assimilation. ( Immigration will bring in new people, new ideas, goods, and technology.) Liberals oppose making English the official language, don't like to wear flag pins, and see themselves as citizens of the world. Liberalism is Egalitarian-- all people are equal and deserve common rights and opportunities; there is no hierarchy. The Left is very concerned with the rights of certain vulnerable groups (race, children, animals) and they look to government to defend the weak. Environmentalist, almost exclusively found on the Right, revile industrialism, capitalism, and automobiles not just for pollution but for degrading of humanities' original nature. As Haidt concluded, Liberals have a three-foundation morality: Caring, Liberty, and Fairness. The Left is basically ambivalent about Loyalty, Authority, and Sanctity.
CONSERVATIVE: Being Conservatives is seen as, (their brand is), the party of war, big business, racism and evangelicals. The Right's idea of equality is equality of opportunity. For the Right everyone’s outcomes should not be guaranteed, but their ability to pursue those outcomes should be guaranteed. That, to the Right, is fairness. The Right believes people should be rewarded proportionally to what they contribute even if it means unequal outcomes. On the Right you are likely to see more relationships, institutions, contexts, and groups. Conservatives are not so interested in protecting individuals as they are the whole. Utilitarianism could define the Conservative-- always aim to bring about the good of the greatest number even if a few people may get hurt. A Conservative motive is neophobia (a fear of new things) prefer to stick with what's tried and true and care about guarding borders, (immigrants can bring in plagues, epidemics, and new diseases thus threatening the whole). They care about boundaries, loyalty and are strong on traditions. Those on the Right are more likely to talk about the sanctity of life and the sanctity of marriage. They view the body as a temple. The Right seems to have a near-monopoly on appeals to loyalty (patriotism, military, parents, teachers, elders, police). The basic social unit for a Conservative is not the individual but the hierarchically structured family which serves as the model for other institutions. The Right values self-control over self-expression, duty over rights and loyalty to one group over concerns for other groups. Conservatives tend to invoke the name of God (not necessarily Jesus), glorify American Heros, quote the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and desire to pull diverse people into one tent. Conservatives are more concerned about their groups rather than all of humanity. They revere the word liberty rather than equality. The Rights' view of Liberty is the right to be left alone, free from government interference and resent it when the Left uses the government to infringe on the Rights' liberties in order to protect the class the Left wishes to protect.
My purpose for this Blog posting is two fold:
1) I'm getting the impression both Conservatives and Liberal, given their druthers, would pick a different candidate. So, maybe if we can identify which of the parties best represents the world in which we would like to live, we can vote for that party. If the characteristics of a Liberal best describes you, hold our nose and pull the lever for Hillary. If the characteristics of a Conservative best describes you, use your one free hand and pull for the Donald.
2) This is the most important. Consider a world run by only Conservatives or only Liberals. There is a reason our human nature gives us so many psychological options. We may feel strongly about our world view but it won't stand up without a smattering of the other. I have often used the comparison of Liberals being the heart of a society and Conservatives being the head, a person cannot live with only one of those (excluding the Headless Horseman), nor can a nation. The question is how much of each is best at this time in our evolution.
Jonathan Haidt laments,"Extreme partisanship may be literally addictive." It needn’t be. We don't generally carry the differences between the thinking of our spouses or partners to the extent we do politics. As a Conservative doing research for this piece, I began to understand the thought processes of the Liberal. I understand why they, as a heart, would stand up for transgender bathrooms for example. I, as a head, disagree totally, but I understand. If I thought about caring/individuals the way they think, I would also come to that conclusion. Understanding does not stop either side from fighting for what they believe is right. That does not stop us from working and voting for the way we want America to look but it should stop us from viewing the "others" as people to dumb to spit downwind.
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