Why Won't They Listen? Haidt diverges from other psychologists who have analyzed the left’s electoral failures. The usual argument of these psycho-pundits is that conservative politicians manipulate voters’ neural roots — playing on our craving for authority, for example — to trick people into voting against their interests. But Haidt treats electoral success as a kind of evolutionary fitness test. He figures that if voters like Republican messages, there’s something in Republican messages worth liking. He chides psychologists who try to “explain away” conservatism, treating it as a pathology. Conservatism thrives because it fits how people think, and that’s what validates it. Workers who vote Republican aren’t fools. In Haidt’s words, they’re “voting for their moral interests.”
posted by shivohum
on Mar 26, 2012 -
53 comments
Reconsidering Fukuyama - "In 2004 he became the first of the card-carrying neocons to break ranks and oppose the Iraq War; in 2006 he published a comprehensive history and critique of the neoconservative movement; in 2009 he skewered the economics profession at length in his journal The American Interest; earlier this year, he dedicated an issue to a series of essays exploring the emerging American plutocracy... that through their greed they somehow benefit society... He was not being glib: Much of
his new book,
The Origins of Political Order, is devoted to documenting
the struggles of premodern states to draw up sustainable tax codes.
Long before modernity and the spread of democracy, societies that failed to effectively tax their citizenry were the first to shrivel...
[more inside]
posted by kliuless
on May 14, 2011 -
33 comments
While much is being made of
dysfunctional government [
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9] and
hung parliament [
1,
2,
3,
4,
5], David Cameron's
pitches for a fairer society [
1,
2,
3],
smarter policy [
1,
2,
3] and
employee ownership [
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7] have been positively, uh,
Obamanian.
* [more inside]
posted by kliuless
on Mar 5, 2010 -
26 comments
"The crisis is an opportunity to sweep away the rotten postwar settlement of British politics. Labour is moribund. But David Cameron has a chance to develop a "
red Tory" communitarianism, socially conservative but sceptical of neoliberal economics"
[more inside]
posted by doobiedoo
on Feb 15, 2009 -
22 comments
Intense debate about weighty issues like racism, abortion, and immigration... between animals in funny hats! This is the silly punditry of
Scenario: Dog v. Cat:
Round 1,
round 2,
round 3.
posted by hjo3
on May 28, 2008 -
7 comments
My Right Wing Dad is a new-ish and rather informal blog that aims to provide "a chance for folks to examine the unrestrained rhetoric that is quietly passed from in-box to in-box in America," by hosting a collection of the emails that form an often untraceable and unacknowledged part of public discourse in the U.S., especially on the Right. Tagged by category (for example:
God,
college,
flag,
liberal, and
World War II), the amateur archive presents a range of colorful opinion, not all of it strikingly accurate, and some of it offensive. In efforts to understand
liberal and conservative habits of communication, it may be worth considering the role of forwarded email in the electoral process, and the
reasons that the forwarding of email is popular among some people, and whether this behavior tends to correlate with particular political opinions. The emails hosted on MyRightWingDad may in any case be enlightening, unless you're already on the forward list of someone in the know.
posted by washburn
on Aug 15, 2007 -
105 comments
Described as "the View meets the Daily Show and takes a right turn,"
The America Show, Episode 1 and
Episode 2 are pilots that are being floated for possible TV broadcast. Weigh in on their potential. The driving force behind the show is conservative comic
Julia Gorin, who also recently launched
Political Mavens as "a celebrity-studded conservative answer to Arianna's Huffington Post."
posted by madamjujujive
on Nov 27, 2006 -
247 comments
Webcameron. David Cameron, leader of the Conservative party in the UK, reaches out to the Youtube generation.
posted by greycap
on Sep 30, 2006 -
53 comments
Conservative Blogs Rock! NEW YORK In an argument sure to be challenged in certain sectors of the blogosphere, a story in The New York Times magazine coming up this Sunday declares that conservative blogs continue to best liberal blogs in political and electoral influence.
posted by Sagres
on Dec 9, 2005 -
51 comments
Meet Mark. I am a 49 year old truck driver. Divorced, one daughter, 18, looking for a LADY, 45 to 55 years old, no tatoos, no body piercings except ears, but most importantly NOT LIBERAL (lady and not liberal kind of go hand in hand, don't they?).
Mark is just one of the many available lovebirds waiting for you at
Hannidate --
Sean Hannity's very own Internet personals.
posted by grabbingsand
on Feb 26, 2005 -
87 comments
The Dittohead Guide To Adult Beverages can be read in its entirety (abt. 250Kb) on the Web. (For those of you in Rio Linda, a dittohead is a Rush Limbaugh fan.) But Britt Gillette has also self-published his book and wants you to make his dreams come true by buying it on Amazon. It's got hilarious drink names in it, like "
Caller Abortion" (a stunt Limbaugh used on his show -- complete with the sound of a vacuum cleaner), "
Feminazi Frazzle," and "
John F-ing Kerry." The recipes look like they'd make tasty drinks, but I think I'll pass on the purchase. Who really needs a novelty, right-wing drink recipe book?
posted by tbc
on Aug 13, 2004 -
12 comments
Tweedledum and Tweedledee: Two great essays from very opposite sides of the barricades, but embodying the same healthy bloody-mindedness: reverent
Roger Scruton, English, conservative and monarchist ,on the Right, and irreverent
Glen Newey, Scottish, socialist and republican, on the Left. The differences are plain to see. But it's the similarities, I think, that point to the enduring strength of the British political spirit.
posted by MiguelCardoso
on Feb 5, 2003 -
9 comments
House likely to approve homeland security bill that erodes labor protections "But the Senate, which likely takes up the matter next week, so far has pursued a much different course. On Thursday, the Democratic-led Senate Governmental Affairs Committee crafted legislation that would protect all current civil service protections and make it more difficult for the president to move workers out of unions. Bush and other Republicans said the measure would give the president less authority than he has now."
The House seems to be so much more conservative and extremist than the Senate. Heck they're
still working on trying to ban selected types of abortion procedures even when there's a strong chance it won't pass constitutional muster and the Senate isn't likely to support them.
Is it your perception that the House is more conservative? If so, why do you think that's true?
posted by Red58
on Jul 26, 2002 -
19 comments
How talk radio went right-wing. Or further proof that the airwaves are owned by corporations and not by the American people. Regardless, its an interesting look at how politics changed the radio landscape.
posted by skallas
on Jul 7, 2002 -
34 comments
"Whatever else is going on, the liberal-left alliance has taken as big a hit as the conservative-fundamentalist alliance after the blame-America remarks of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson ... It may be [...] that the far left's bluff has been finally called ... For the first time in a very long while, many liberals are reassessing--quietly for the most part--their alliance with the anti-American, anticapitalist forces they have long appeased, ignored or supported."
Andrew Sullivan in Thursday's Opinion Journal. Strong piece, but is he correct? I've seen a few people reassessing here and there, but not a lot, at least not yet.
posted by aaron
on Oct 3, 2001 -
25 comments
