Politics, Odors and Soap

The irony for the “liberals” of today is how much authority they want to invest into centralized authority to enforce “fairness.”  I would argue that conservatives, while respect for certain types of institutions certainly comes into play, are very suspicious of centralized authority.

Among conservative values that conservatives hold and liberals tend not to, I would also add “lex rex,” or “the sovereignty of the law,” which is what the whole ObamaCare debate is about…enumerated powers, etc.

Perhaps a few cases of a very special type of incense (Inflatio Peditum) ought to be ordered for the upcoming General Convention, for distribution as certain votes take place.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2562923/

Interesting. For the radical revisionists:
Loyalty: we don’t care what the Church thinks
Respect for authority: we’re gonna do what we wanna do
Sanctity: what’s that?

Haven’t read the book, but if the article is a good indicator, its a mess.  Today’s liberals favor collectivism vs. individualism.  Collectivism has a record of authoritarianism that cannot be denied.  State sponsored or regulated whatever falls on the control side, not the liberty side, so how is that liberal?  In Oakshott, “liberal” connotes a love for theory vs. a respect for tradition, and theorists want to impose their theories on others.  Are these words about coercive control vs. freedom of choice?  I don’t know who it was in the Anglican Wars who ditched “liberal vs. conservative” for “revisionist vs. reasserter” but I appreciate it.

“although [conservatives] think of fairness and liberty differently”

conservative fairness: all people should be treated equally, without preference under the law (think James).

liberal fairness: all people should ideally have equal resources, abilities, opportunities. If this is not the case, it is an inherent duty of government to forcibly, artificially redistribute resources and opportunities in order to level the playing field.

conservative liberty: the right to be left alone, so long as my activities are not causing harm.

liberal liberty: the right to do whatever I want, which may involve redistributing resources from others in order to fund what I want.

Yes. They do define things differently, don’t they? :(

I kind of find the postmodernism very depressing. There is no interest in finding out which view might be more internally consistent, let alone correct. Instead we have:

Conservatives also secrete more skin moisture when they see disgusting images, such as a person eating worms. Liberals feel disgust, too, but a bit less.

Anything that prods us to think of disgust or cleanliness also seems to have at least a temporary effect on our politics. It pushes our sanctity buttons and makes us more conservative.

A University of Toronto study found that if people were asked to wash their hands with soap and water before filling out a questionnaire, they become more moralistic about issues like drug use and pornography. Researchers found that interviewees on Stanford’s campus offered harsher, more moralistic views after “fart spray” had been released in the area.

At Cornell University, students answered questions in more conservative ways when they were simply near a hand sanitizer station.

Maybe as the Dems are engaging in voter fraud and voter intimidation this November, Republicans can counter by offering free Purelle and wetnaps at voting stations. But at least these findings offer a bit of relief: I’d always assumed that liberals were being sophistical and dishonest, on auto-repeat. But maybe they are just clueless.

EXCELLENT article, Jackie.  Not that I agree with all of it - but it stimulates thought in a manner uncommon in newspaper articles.  Thank you.

[6] Spongjohn SquarePantheist,

I actually think they are, simultaneously, being both!

First, they lie to themselves about the very nature of reality. And once they have succeeded in convincing themselves that they have arrived at a correct understanding of an issue and therefore a correct prescription for how it ought to be solved, the proceed to propagate their self-deception to those around them.

I have the strongest suspicion that most leftists (I object to the use of the word “liberal” to refer to statists and collectivists, on the grounds that those folks are actually “progressives” who highjacked the title “liberal” back in the early part of the twentieth century when being a “progressive” lost its luster with the electorate—liberals were so called because they were devoted to liberty) are, in Myers-Briggs terminology “Feeling types.” This is to say, not that they are governed by emotions, but that they tend to make decisions, such as what is right or wrong, fair or unfair, based on whether a particular understanding “feels” to them like the correct understanding. Their polar opposites are the “Thinking types” who, by contrast, tend to make decisions based on a rational and sequential examination of whatever evidence they can unearth to decide what is right and what wrong. This would include vetting that evidence based on a set of principles that is as internally consistent as they are intellectually capable of determining.

Both types have strengths and weaknesses, but I think that the two types need to be held in some sort of balance through which the strengths of each can contribute to helpful solutions to very real societal problems. I know from my own experience as a “Thinking type” that I benefit from having my hypotheses and assumptions challenged by a “Feeling type” with whom I share a common concern over a particular issue.

Pax et bonum,
Keith Töpfer

Isn’t the real reason this:

If you are a liberal-leaning person living in the United States, then you do not have to come into contact with conservative ideas unless you want to. I teach English at a liberal arts college, but I have worked at a big university as well, and the only liberal colleagues of mine who ever came within a bird’s-eye-view of understanding the conservative position where the ones who made an effort to do so. However, they were the minority. Most of them are quite comfortable with their lampoonish assumptions about conservatism and make little effort to learn more.

On the contrary, conservatives have no choice but to be exposed to liberal ideas at the public schools, colleges and universities, dealings with government offices, ‘mainstream’ print and television media, and even dealing with the leadership of establishment churches (even if most of the people in those churches are conservative).

I’m hoping to finish my doctoral dissertation in English this summer, so I’ve had 10 years of exposure to liberal, Marxist, postmodern, and New Leftist ideas. I also used to attend a church with a liberal rector (who thought he could convert me…after 10 years of postmodern indoctrination had failed! LOL) Therefore, I think I understand liberals and liberal ideology quite well. I can’t say the same for them when it comes to my beliefs.

Perhaps off topic, but I recently read this review: http://www.miller-mccune.com/politics/is-conservatism-our-default-ideology-40703/ that seems to link conservatives with lower brain activity (or as interpreted by my liberal son: stupid).  The problem I see here is not conservativism as contrasted with liberalism (thoughts, politics, etc.), but conservativism in terms of personal protection/preservation.  The studies placed participants in situations of stress.  Seems natural to me that under stress one focusses conservatively on preservation.  This has nothing to do with whether one is politically liberal or not. 

To the contrary, it is my observation that liberal opinion (political, theological etc) relies heavily on emotion and feeling and is sometimes completely lacking is substantiated fact or reality.  Sadly, I am no shining example of conservative thought as I am so poor at debate and argument.

It’s no wonder that there are now two books out there that define liberalism as a mental disorder (Michael Savage at: http://www.wnd.com/2011/12/69296/  and Lyle H. Rossiter at: http://doctorbulldog.wordpress.com/2008/11/13/leading-psychiatrist-says-liberalism-is-a-psychological-disorder/ )  LOL!