Conservatives - Not so bad after all?

[Pilgrim]

I cut/pasted this from an e-mail sent to me the other day. I figured even we conservative neanderthals need a figurative pat on the back every now and then.

From the book "Makers and Takers" by Peter Schweizer:

* Seventy-one percent of conservatives say you have an obligation to care
for a seriously injured spouse or parent versus less than half (46 percent) of liberals.

* Conservatives have a better work ethic and are much less likely to call in sick than their liberal counterparts.

* Liberals are 2½ times more likely to be resentful of others’ success and 50 percent more likely to be jealous of other people’s good luck.

* Liberals are 2 times more likely to say it is okay to cheat the government out of welfare money you don’t deserve.

* Conservatives are more likely than liberals to hug their children and “significantly more likely” to display positive nurturing emotions.

* Liberals are less trusting of family members and much less likely to stay in touch with their parents.

* Do you get satisfaction from putting someone else’s happiness ahead of your own? Fifty-five percent of conservatives said yes versus only 20 percent of liberals.

* Rush Limbaugh, Ronald Reagan, Bill O’Reilly and Dick Cheney have given large sums of money to people in need, while Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, Michael Moore, and Al Gore have not.

* Those who are “very liberal” are 3 times more likely than conservatives to throw things when they get angry.

The American left prides itself on being superior to conservatives: more generous, less materialistic, more tolerant, more intellectual, and more selfless. For years scholars have constructed—and the media has pushed—elaborate theories designed to demonstrate that conservatives suffer from a host of personality defects and character flaws. According
to these supposedly unbiased studies, conservatives are mean-spirited, greedy, selfish malcontents with authoritarian tendencies. Far from the belief of a few cranks, prominent liberals from John Kenneth Galbraith to Hillary Clinton have succumbed to these prejudices. But what do the facts show?

Peter Schweizer has dug deep—through tax documents, scholarly data, primary opinion research surveys, and private records—and has discovered that these claims are a myth. Indeed, he shows that many of these claims actually apply more to liberals than conservatives. Much as he did in his bestseller "Do as I Say (Not as I Do)", he brings to light never-before-revealed facts that will upset conventional wisdom.

Conservatives such as Ronald Reagan and Robert Bork have long argued that liberal policies promote social decay. Schweizer, using the latest data and research, exposes how, in general:

* Liberals are more self-centered than conservatives.

* Conservatives are more generous and charitable than liberals.

* Liberals are more envious and less hardworking than conservatives.

* Conservatives value truth more than liberals, and are less prone to

cheating and lying.

* Liberals are more angry than conservatives.

* Conservatives are actually more knowledgeable than liberals.

* Liberals are more dissatisfied and unhappy than conservatives.

Schweizer argues that the failure lies in modern liberal ideas, which foster a self-centered, “if it feels good do it” attitude that leads liberals to outsource their responsibilities to the government and focus instead on themselves and their own desires.

 

[LDB]

The conservatives already know it and the liberals can't be bothered with the truth but it's interesting none the less.

 

[greg334]

I think, being not a conservative nor a liberal but a classic liberal which is more like a conservative but not unlike a libertarian, that today's modern liberal is really a poor sport and will not stand up for someone else when it comes down to it. I have yet seen anyone who is a real liberal of any income bracket actually help someone else.

Oh sure there are some who do this or that for a cause, but a lot of the times they get to write off the contribution, always worried about what they can write off.

I worked with a lot of non-profits and on thing that I really find odd is that some of the people who benefit are liberal but most of the people who give are conservative.

 

[Turtle]

The cut-n-paste from the e-mail, you should know, is word for word from the editorial synopsis on the book's jacket, and on book retail sites, like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc. The book goes far deeper than these silly "text bites" of a synopsis. It's a fascinating look into many of the myths perpetuated by both conservatives and liberals.

Mike McConnell had Schweizer, the author of the book, on his WLW radio show last week, and it was a very engaging hour. It prompted me to buy the book, and it's a really good read. It comes from his own conservative agenda, of course, but it's well written and well researched. He focuses on the 1990's and the Clintons, rather than on the current state of affairs (pun intended) and the upcoming elections. He also, apparently (quite obviously), has a really, really strong dislike for Garrison Keillor.
Man, does he hate Keillor. I'm surprised the book's subtitle isn't, "And oh, by the way, I really hate Garrison Keillor"

But by and large the book deals with the results gleaned from local and national polls, academic studies, and direct comments from conservatives and liberals. In polls, for example, people who identified themselves as liberals answered questions a certain way, a certain percentage of the time. Same with the people who identified themselves as conservatives. And the percentages are reported. More often than not these polls were not polls to find out how conservatives or liberals will answer questions, but the question of 'how do you identify yourself?' was merely one of the questions.

The stereotypes are that conservatives are ignorant, selfish, and hypocritical, while liberals are enlightened, generous, and honest. That's what we've been told, anyway. Well, turns out, it's actually just the opposite. A lot of it, quite honestly, surprised me. But after reading the book, not so much.

One of the things that struck me was that while liberals are always talking about giving to charity, most liberals who do give (most don't give, actually) give to charity to make a statement. In other words, in the ultimate example of symbolism over substance, liberals tend to give money to organizations who talk about problems, while conservatives tend to give money to organizations who actually work to fix problems, and liberals tend to give less than do conservatives. Liberals tend to give money to cultural organizations and political groups, while conservatives tend to give money to people in actual need.

Another one is also about money. To the question of, "Other than your health, what is the most important thing to you?" Liberals responded most often with "money", while people who considered themselves as conservative responded most often with "family". That one surprised me a little.

In addition, "When considering a new job, what is the most important factors?" Liberals noted money, job security, benefits and vacation time as being most important, while conservatives tended to want a job that provides the opportunity for advancement. So it should come as no surprise that when asked if you can get ahead by working hard, 4 out of 5 conservatives said yes, but only 14% of liberals agreed.

Modern liberalism is all about finding yourself and outsourcing your responsibilities to the government. That's why many liberals have a "I gave at the office" mentality when it comes to meaningful charitable contributions. Their government handles that for them.

Liberals continue to say that conservatives are uneducated about government, economics and world affairs, and get all of their information via brainwashing through conservative talk radio. Yet, the mind-numbed robots (conservatives) who get their marching orders from conservative talk radio somehow managed to answer pollsters' questions about government, economics and world affairs far more accurately than the enlightened and educated liberals. In most cases the pollsters were from liberal academia. Too funny.

People tend to gravitate to liberalism mainly because it's the easy way out. It’s seductive because it offers a sense of moral superiority while demanding very little from its followers. You don’t need to give to the needy, just vote for the right political party and let them do it for you. You don’t need to care for family members that might be in need, that’s what the government is for. You don’t need to fight resentment or jealousy, embrace it in our economic agenda. Is it a shocker when liberals are 2 1/2 times more likely to be resentful of others’ success? Newp. Liberals are far more likely to be concerned with what someone else is making, and are far more likely to be jealous and envious of others (cry babies).

Modern liberalism promotes an obsession with victimhood, a culture of complaint, and rampant envy. Liberalism encourages people to be angry almost all the time. And it encourages people to outwardly express that anger, not try to control it or be constructive. So, we find that liberals are angry longer, their anger is more intense, and they are likely to be angry at more people than the average conservative.

And how liberals deal with their hatred and anger differs greatly from that of conservatives. Liberals are more likely to cope with their anger by throwing things, seeking out revenge, having a drink or three, or taking a pill. Conservatives are more likely to talk to the person they are angry with.

If you don't believe me, watch the two political conventions this year and see the difference between how the liberals act outside the Republican Convention, and how the conservatives act outside the Democratic Convention. At the Republican Convention, liberals will tend to protest largely and loudly, even violently (akin to a 3 year old throwing a temper tantrum in the grocery store, while kicking the check-out girl and spitting on the store manager), while conservatives will likely do very little, if any, protesting at the Democratic Convention.

Another really funny one that came out of the book was that married women who call themselves feminists tend to do far less housework than women who do not label themselves as such, and the feminists tend to complain far more about what little housework they do.


Modern liberalism clearly brings out the worst in us. Liberals want to live by "there is no real truth" and that truth is subjective, and they tend to argue opinions as fact, until the opinion is widely accepted as fact. Liberals are certainly entitled to their own opinions, but not to their own facts. Just because you believe something, no matter how much you believe it, doesn't make it true. Liberalism has placed such a premium on grievance collecting that loving one's country and being satisfied with one's own life is a blatant betrayal of conscience if you happen to be a member of any of the "minority" groups that make up about 70% of the country. In nearly every measure, liberals report less satisfaction with their lives than conservatives do. It's sad when you think about it.

Well, that was a lot longer than I planned. Maybe this should go in the "Book Reviews" thread.