So, are progressives and liberals just wired differently...

[WCGreen]

I mean really, why am I an advocate for Single-Payer Health Care when I am already enrolled in Medicare and receive SSI Disability. I don't have any kids. No close relatives in dire need.

In fact, I have never known anyone personally that was screwed over big time by the health insurance industrial complex. Sure, problems with billings occasionally but for me and all of those close to me, the system is working fine.

So why am I so passionate about the plight of others?

But the real question is, why are so many people not passionate about the plight of others?

I guess to a lot of people living in this so-called Christian Nation we live in have only enough Jesus to make sure they are saved, hell with the rest of 'em.

Why is it when it comes to war and all the turmoil, death and injury that occurs when ever we reach out to protect the safe flow of resources to our so-called Christian Nation, my ire rises. In fact it raises so much ire that I have been known to attend a few rallys and protests against all the mayhem inflicted by our consumer nation. And by the way, I am not a Christian.

But then again, why is it that others living in this so-called Christian Nation are so quick to send others off to war that they can't wait to tie the yellow ribbon and break out their Lee Greenwood.

Are we wired differently?

I mean I care about the environment, the future even though I really have no stake in what comes after I am gone.

And yet, people with children are willing to bet their kids future for the sake of convenience.

Are we wired differently?

Is their a gene for compassion?

I would like to know because it sure would make my life easier, you know, not having to care about all the stuff I do care about.

Maybe that's it.

Maybe the others just care about themselves. Maybe they just can't see beyond their own selfish needs.

You know, if I were a Christian, I would pray so that they could find some compassion in their lifetime, let them see how good it makes you feel.

But then again, I do things just because I know they are right and just.

Maybe that is the key. Maybe progressives and liberals just know what is right in their hearts and mind.

[quantass]

1. Good stuff! I think the answer is Education & Upbringing. I bet...

on average those of us who are progressive/liberals had better schooling and caring parents.

[chelaque liberal]

3. Then why are all of my siblings crazy wing-nuts?

[WCGreen]

4. My brother is a Chicago School of Economics Conservative...

He writes checks for Catholic Charities but that is it...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. There must be a gene for compassion...

Because you have it...as do I.

Progressives and liberals see the world through compassionate eyes. When I was young, I wanted to be a nurse...

And I kept that dream, and became one. I wanted to help sick people...

Compassion was key to my becoming a nurse...

As it did to my becoming a liberal...

It is right.


K&R

[grasswire]

5. it is authoritarianism that makes conservatives

So says John Dean, among others.

The need to punish and regulate others drives many a rigid world view.

And fear, of course.

I really see it in my sister, who is a ditto-head despite being a very smart person. She's an authoritarian.

[WCGreen]

6. That makes sense...

[laconicsax]

7. Yes. There was sn NIH/NCS-funded study in 2003.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/aug/13/usa.redbox

A study funded by the US government has concluded that conservatism can be explained psychologically as a set of neuroses rooted in "fear and aggression, dogmatism and the intolerance of ambiguity".

As if that was not enough to get Republican blood boiling, the report's four authors linked Hitler, Mussolini, Ronald Reagan and the rightwing talkshow host, Rush Limbaugh, arguing they all suffered from the same affliction.

All of them "preached a return to an idealised past and condoned inequality".

[WCGreen]

10. That certainly not a surprise...

[redqueen]

19. Yep, exactly. (nt)

[grantcart]

22. thanks for remembering this

[Clio the Leo]

8. Some folks need to spend more time reading their Bibles.....

... and less time watching Fox, I know that.

Hmm..... that would make a good bumper sticker.

[Honeycombe8]

9. I'm an Independent, altho liberal in my views on certain things.

But I am also moderate on some things, and even to the right of center on others.

So I don't think that's it.

Could it be that the FAR RIGHT has hijacked the Republican Party, and the far right doesn't have the moral compass that most of the rest of Americans do? Could it be that the far right has more hatred in its heart than the rest of Americans seem to, generally speaking?

I think it's just that there's a general philosophy or ideology that goes along with certain kinds of thinking. I believe in personal responsibility, I can't stand deadbeats, I have worked hard all my life (really hard) and against all odds have become semi-successful (considering where I came from) and so I resent having to pay 1 cent in taxes for deadbeats or illegal immigrants or others who don't want to follow the rules that I had to follow.

BUT I believe in inherent goodness of the average American (whether rich or poor - ever notice how some liberals hate rich people, the same as some Repubs think the worst of poor people? - I believe in the inherent goodness of the PERSON, regardless of his money situation), and I believe that there are certain things that all Americans should be able to count on, like basic health care, dental treatment for kids, a decent education, etc. AND the ability to make money (and keep it) from hard work. This is the American Dream. You can't have the American Dream without health care, IMO. Or a decent education.

I don't think those thoughts are necessarily liberal. But maybe they are. Maybe they are. I'll leave it to greater minds than mine to figure that out.

[Jennicut]

11. I come from a family full of conservatives...I have no idea how I ended up a liberal

My parents and my aunt and uncle and cousins are not bad people. They are not outwardly mean or cold. But their belief in lower taxes and less govt. drives me crazy. I think people just react to the world around them in different ways. I except what has happened and gone on and tried to make it better, my parents try to stop the world from changing....I think its fear and the fear of lack of control.

[Honeycombe8]

24. Me, too. (Altho I'm an Independent, I usu. vote Dem. and the conservs. consider me liberal).

I don't know how I ended up being the odd man out in my family. I mean some of the others are FAR RIGHT. The wackos.

Some say it's because I moved to the big city and "went wild." But as I recall, I've always leaned left, even as a child (empathetic to the black issue, the poor, the belief in the goodness of the common man). I watched the same movies as the rest of my family, like Grapes of Wrath, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, etc. I just don't know how THEY got it so wrong!

(altho one of my sisters, who is apolitical, voted for Obama! Yaaay!)

[GivePeaceAchance]

12. Progressives and Liberals are just less gullible and less driven by their fears...

If the right weren't coming for a fear based world which has been sculpted around them for many years they would at least see things similar to us half of the time. Given they are programmed to fear immigrant terrorists, their own government many of our arguments are impenetrable to them. So our basic difference is we probably have an element of trust that is absent on their side and trust and forgiveness being the key to a more peaceful world. President Obama really got it right they are totally 'wee weed up,' and not IT Seems by accident. Some of the most angriest people are basically afraid, it's how they try to convey it's not getting the better of them, but it is or they'd be lot more relaxed. If they could just learn to zone out anything that scared them and worked to understand why they were being coaxed into being terrified the would would suddenly make a lot more sense to them. The question we have to ask Republicans is why does the republican party work to scare people so much doesn't ath concern them, don't they find that manipulative at all.

[barbiegeek]

13. I read somewhere that we're more independent minded and

we are not followers but questioners. That our mind process information differently affecting more regions of our brain for complex thought. It was probably newsweek or discovery or wired magazine if you want to try and find it.

[Gman2]

14. Our compassion gene is why they think they will cow us with guns

They feel that we are weak. That they can just steamroll over us and we will take it. Like 2000. We had better get tough, and badass, or the hillbilly revolution will kill many of us. I have compassion, AND I am ready to take out a thousand sociopaths. If there are not enough with this dichotomy, they will hunt us down, if not now, when they again steal power. There are more than a few with soylent green fantasies.

[trayfoot]

15. I have asked myself that same question recently..........

and in discussions with a friend, we've come to the conclusion that progressives tend to be more civilized than our opposition. Education and upbringing also, certainly, enter the equation. For too long, schools have pushed math and science (cause that's where the GOOD jobs are - as the saying goes) to the detriment of the social sciences - government, history, sociology, world cultures, etc. The total lack of compassion for those less fortunate seems to be the norm, rather than the exception. Most Americans who are so against this health care reform are probably one paycheck or illness away from financial ruin. Why they deny that to themselves and buy into the rethug B.S. is beyond explanation. But, I have lived long enough to know that "what goes around, comes around", and this nuts will someday be in a tough spot. They will, of course, blame anyone else for their problems - not THEIR stupidity in not standing for what was right when the time to stand was nigh.

[slipslidingaway]

16. knr - and thanks for speaking up for others :) n/t

[nyc 4 Biden]

17. I place a good portion of the blame on the MSM.

Thomas Jefferson said that "Information is the Currency of Democracy."

If this is true the MSM is actively involved in counterfeiting.

I would wager a bet that half of all self-declared republicans would change their tune if they were actually made aware of the actual facts, not RW propaganda.

ETA: With this post, I'm finally a "1000+" poster. It's everything I thought it would be and more. ;-)

[Hamlette]

18. This Max Blumenthal clip about his book Republican Gomorrah nails it

He quotes Eisenhower in a letter he wrote to a soldier in 1951 as saying:

The republican party is being taken over by people who have personal problems who need to be involved with authoritarian actions to self medicate.

Then he talks about Dobson who is a psychatrist who understands that behind the politics o resentment is a culture of personal crisis.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aekmhKiX0K8

[ieoeja]

20. An article by the Indiana Right-to-Life. And a joke.

Years ago the then president of Indiana Right-to-Life wrote something along the lines of:

Liberals believe that people are basically good. Conservatives know that people are evil and require the Word of God to keep them from evil.

As a Liberal I see that statement as insulting to Conservatives. Yet it was written by a Conservative. So I have run it by various people of both ideologies over the years and found that Liberals always see it as damning the Right while Conservatives see it as damning the Left.


A Joke

A Rightist told the following joke in a bar full of Rightists (+ me). Following is an approximate transcript:

Joke-teller: "A person who speaks two languages is called bilingual. A person who speaks more than two is called multi-lingual. So what do you call a person who speaks only one language? ... An American!"

After some laughter the Joke-teller and I spoke at the same time:

Joke-teller: "And the funniest thing is, I was told that joke by a Mexican!"
Me: "It's not often you hear an American joke!"

100% of Conservatives hearing the joke believe it is making fun of Mexicans. I guess they see it as poking fun at the plight of Mexicans being forced to learn a second language when they come here. While I (we?) see it as making fun of American provincialism.


So, yes, we are apparently wired so differently that there will never, ever be complete agreement between us on a surprising array of topics.

[Mark Baker]

21. Well, I know I'm basically good

Liberals believe that people are basically good. Conservatives know that people are evil and require the Word of God to keep them from evil.

and I assume most people are going to be pretty much like me, so they'll be basically good too.

If conservatives think most people are evil, does that mean they think that they themselves are evil? Or at least would be evil without the fear of god?

That's pretty fucked up.

[YvonneCa]

23. Neil Diamond: "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"...

...listen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usZtSl8mX08


I think it's all about selfishness...or the lack thereof.

[RagAss]

25. Yes...we specialize in getting the shit kicked out of us.