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July 27, 2003 When I first began trying to understand how the world works, I took a scientific approach. I was in pre-med in college at the time, and had acquired the disciplines of relying on observable facts and logical analysis of them. I began to engage in a great deal of dormitory discussions, and my view of the world began to take shape. My parents were New Deal liberals, and I had grown up thinking of myself as a liberal and a member of the Democratic party. So I was initially horrified to realize that my evolving philosophy was “conservative”, and that I agreed with Barry Goldwater. One of the things I realized early on is that in political discussions, you can’t change a liberal’s mind with facts and logic. I began to sense that liberals have an almost hard-wired need to believe what they believe, no matter what the facts are. To the extent that when cornered with powerful facts and logic, they deny that facts are relevant, or that logic is valid. It is as if they are cupping their hands over their ears to block out the truth. Their arguments take the form of lashing back with laughter, derision, or personal attacks to the effect that you are insensitive, prejudiced, mean spirited, or in numerous other ways, evil. So after many years of trying to help my liberal friends see the light, I realized that changing their minds even a little bit was futile. Gradually, my thoughts turned to the question of why? Why do liberals cling so tightly to their beliefs in the face of insurmountable evidence? For example, although free market societies have proven superior to statist systems in nearly every measure of human well being, liberals still advocate statism. It is as if, in their belief system, statism is a desirable end unto itself no matter what the consequences. Time and again private schools outperform public schools at half the cost per pupil, but liberals continue to advocate perpetuating the public school system. In their belief system, public schools are a desirable end unto themselves no matter what the consequences. Time and again, private enterprises outperform government enterprises in quality, service, and value for the price, but liberals continue to rail against the evils of private enterprise. In their belief system, government ownership is a desirable end unto itself no matter what the consequences. Perhaps a start toward resolution begins with an inventory of what we know. For starters, it can be observed that liberals are hypocrites. When you say “limousine liberals”, everyone knows what you are talking about. Liberals readily avail themselves to the perks and privileges they seek to deny others. They brandish the specter of the “Three Martini Lunch” to justify cutting the deductibility of private enterprise dining and entertainment expenses, yet dine on government subsidized meals and allow themselves to be wined and dined at lobbyist expense. They are against education vouchers, but send their own kids to private schools. Liberals favor any policy that promises to reduce the population. They favor birth control, abortion, homosexuality, “no bypass surgery after age 55”, and “death with dignity”. They know that savings are a necessary prerequisite for economic growth, but they advocate taxing interest on personal savings. They know that investment is a necessary prerequisite for economic growth, but their tax policies siphon off investment dollars in the form of business taxes and capital gains taxes. After a great deal of thought, I have decided the only explanation for such irrational thinking is that liberals fear for their lives. Human beings are capable of the most unspeakable horrors when they feel their survival hangs in the balance, when their back is against the wall. My hypothesis holds that Liberals perceive that the free market threatens their survival, that private education threatens their survival, that private enterprise threatens their survival, that statism is a necessary vehicle for their self preservation. Liberals feel threatened because they view the world as a zero sum system, that the pie is finite, that one man’s gain is another man’s loss. They perceive that everyone who partakes of the finite pie reduces the amount available to “me” (the liberal). Accordingly, the best way to ensure survival is to tightly control and restrict everyone else’s consumption, to tax them into a state of subsistence living, to restrict their economic freedom, or to eliminate them through abortion, euthanasia, and other population control schemes. “If we let everyone do as they damn well please, I might be elbowed out of my vacations on Martha’s Vineyard.” Zero sum thinking can be seen as the work of the more primitive regions of the brain, the reptilian brain stem. When a reptile senses another of its kind in its environment, its instinctive reaction is to view the intruder as a competitor for scarce resources, and to eliminate or repress the “threat”. The reptile favors population control schemes and subsistence living standards (for others) so as to safeguard its own sustenance. Human beings are the only creatures with the advanced brain functions required to understand that another of its kind in its environment represents an opportunity. Human beings are uniquely capable of working together in a way that one plus one equals three, of understanding that the pie is expandable. Conservatives think this way. They understand that whenever anyone takes a piece of the pie, they don’t remove pie, they create more pie for others. When a person makes a million dollars, it is only through spearheading an enterprise that employs people to outfit the productive facility and then run it. This puts more money in the pockets of people who build, equip, and run the productive facility. The person who moves ahead brings a lot of other people along. In conclusion, liberals advocate their policies from the more primitive reptilian regions of the brain, whereas conservatives advocate their policies from the more advanced regions of the brain that are unique to Mankind. That’s the explanation. ------------ Email Lance Paul Nelson: intersectinc@earthlink.net Comment on this column in the forum. Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
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