At Yale, we conducted an experiment to turn conservatives into liberals.

[TidWell]

When my daughter was growing up, she often wanted to rush off to do fun things with her friends — get into the water at the beach, ride off on her bike — without taking the proper safety precautions first. I’d have to stop her in her tracks to first put on the sunscreen, or her bike helmet and knee pads, with her standing there impatiently. “Safety first, fun second,” was my mantra.

Keeping ourselves and our loved ones safe from harm is perhaps our strongest human motivation, deeply embedded in our very DNA. It is so deep and important that it influences much of what we think and do, maybe more than we might expect. For example, over a decade now of research in political psychology consistently shows that how physically threatened or fearful a person feels is a key factor — although clearly not the only one — in whether he or she holds conservative or liberal attitudes.

the full article is here
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...r-political-divisions/?utm_term=.b0c4cc69b903

 

[Trotsky]

I don't feel like reading the entire article, so please summarize.

Either way, we know Yale students are overwhelmingly overwhelmingly "liberal" because in our current political environment, the alternative is being an anti-intellectual, anti-economics, anti-science, anti-history, pro-being a shithead rube.

And I bet the test subjects, universally being either brilliant, or brilliantly hardworking and scrupulous, were resistant to being converted into such.

 

[weed]

dude, posting excerpts from the article &/or sharing your thoughts are a requirement in TWR. you can't just post a link.

 

[7437]

Seen studies like this before i think.

 

[Skulli]

Yahh yahh but did it go as far as that it included chopping their gdick clean off ?

 

[JudoThrowFiasco]

Basically if you're prone to being scared as a youth, more likely to be conservative as you're older.

Or, if you just want to keep more of your earnings, either or.

Although the methodology of that experiment seems off. How do you verify "intense visualization" over an online survey?

 

[Trotsky]

Or, if you just want to keep more of your earnings, either or.

And don't understand/prioritize that desire over long-term retention of earning power.

 

[panamaican]

@TidWell add some content to your OP or I'm going to have to make it disappear.

 

[HomerThompson]

@TidWell add some content to your OP or I'm going to have to make it disappear.

Just like Spacey's career.

 

[KONG-D'SNT-TAP]

Basically if you're prone to being scared as a youth, more likely to be conservative as you're older.

Or, if you just want to keep more of your earnings, either or.

Although the methodology of that experiment seems off. How do you verify "intense visualization" over an online survey?

On what planet is conservative ideology for the middle class allowing them to keep more of their money?

The fact they want to take away social security, Medicare, remove healthcare, get crushed with a tax plan and take away every social service imaginable.

 

[Metusalemi]

I can't take seriously any article that doesn't use the correct terminology: "Cuckservatives and Libtards".

 

[Aegon Spengler]

I no believe

On everything other than the environment and labour the cons have some tricky points

 

[Jesus H. Sherdog]

I find it strange then that the vast majority of people who work in the most dangerous professions tend to be conservatives. If they’re so fearful or risk-averse wouldn’t they have chosen less dangerous careers?

Oil workers, loggers, pilots, law enforcement, military, farming, miners, forestry, truck drivers, fishermen... all skew conservative. Business owners skew conservative but professional poker players lean very liberal, so for financial risk maybe it’s a wash.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...s-probably-a-democrat/?utm_term=.fb35323dc0f1

 

[JudoThrowFiasco]

On what planet is conservative ideology for the middle class allowing them to keep more of their money?

The fact they want to take away social security, Medicare, healthcare get crushed with a tax plan and take away every social service imaginable.

I wasn't referring to the mid class. There are high income earners who are intelligent and just want to keep more net income

 

[JudoThrowFiasco]

And don't understand/prioritize that desire over long-term retention of earning power.

I don't know -- seems like the republican wealth class hold on to that earning power for a long while. Especially with generational passing down of keys to the industry and trust fund

 

[panamaican]

I don't know -- seems like the republican wealth class hold on to that earning power for a long while. Especially with generational passing down of keys to the industry and trust fund

I wasn't referring to the mid class. There are high income earners who are intelligent and just want to keep more net income

What I would say here is that we're not really discussing "conservative" vs "liberal" in that context. It's more individual vs. society.

And plenty of conservative principles are about society, not the individual. The affinity for national level religious morality, national language, limited diversification via immigration - are all policies that are predicated on putting the society's best interests over the individual's best interests. Conservatives and liberals are both focused on societal level policy, not really individual policy.

The economic desire to keep more of one's net earnings instead of putting it towards the common good via taxes is a different motivation than an interest in improving society writ large. Unless that person wants to keep more of their net earnings so that they can, ultimately, direct it towards the common good more directly (a la philanthropy). But keeping it purely for personal financial growth isn't conservative or liberal, it's individual.

 

[JudoThrowFiasco]

What I would say here is that we're not really discussing "conservative" vs "liberal" in that context. It's more individual vs. society.

And plenty of conservative principles are about society, not the individual. The affinity for national level religious morality, national language, limited diversification via immigration - are all policies that are predicated on putting the society's best interests over the individual's best interests. Conservatives and liberals are both focused on societal level policy, not really individual policy.

The economic desire to keep more of one's net earnings instead of putting it towards the common good via taxes is a different motivation than an interest in improving society writ large. Unless that person wants to keep more of their net earnings so that they can, ultimately, direct it towards the common good more directly (a la philanthropy). But keeping it purely for personal financial growth isn't conservative or liberal, it's individual.

I can see what you're saying in the macro sense, but the reality of it is that many conservative (and liberal) followers focus on the economic aspect of it on an individual sense. You included.

 

[irish_thug]

If conservatives have a larger "fear center" why is it liberals are afraid of words?

 

[panamaican]

I can see what you're saying in the macro sense, but the reality of it is that many conservative (and liberal) followers focus on the economic aspect of it on an individual sense. You included.

Sure, plenty of people focus on the individual sense but that doesn't change the policy issues. Someone can want to keep more of their earnings but recognize the need to balance the budget (conservative) or support specific social welfare programs (liberal) and understand that their personal desire must wait.

My fiscal policy is mostly about the societal level stuff, which is why I'm less supportive of the tax cuts than I would have been 10 years ago. When I support the things that benefit me and mine, I'm aligning with the GOP but I'm not confusing my position with conservative principles - I am being selfish, not conservative.

The estate tax is the best example. On a policy level, eliminating the estate tax is bad policy when it doesn't come with spending cuts. Conservative principles recognize that working towards greater financial stability means bringing spending more in line with revenue - so cutting revenue is fine when it's proportionate with spending cuts. Cutting revenue while increase spending is not fine.

So, from a conservative position, my support for cutting the estate tax is built on the entirety of the financial direction for the nation, not just myself. So I might support it for society today and not support it for society tomorrow. However, I'll always support it for personal gain and when I do that, I'm very aware that sometimes I'm violating good conservative principles to do so.

People who blindly support "increasing personal wealth" as conservative don't really understand the difference between conservative principles and policies for society vs. their egocentrism. For those who do understand the difference, it's easy enough to convince the others that they should increase my personal wealth by pretending that a specific fiscal policy always aligns with the larger conservative ideology. In truth conservative support for specific fiscal policies (like tax cuts) should always be contextual.

 

[Trotsky]

If conservatives have a larger "fear center" why is it liberals are afraid of words?

?