Why Conservatives Almost Hate Liberals
Liberals can be dismayed by conservatives. They get angry at and disgusted with conservatives. But it would be stretching things to say that liberals often get emotionally worked up to the point of almost hating conservatives. Conservatives, on the other hand, do often get worked up to the point of almost hating liberals. You see it in the blogs, you hear it on the radio. It is commonplace. Why so? Two reasons, at least, plus one reason why almost hating liberals is more popular now than it once was:
1. Liberals receive the deserved credit for most and probably all of the humane governmental policies that exist, from child labor and civil rights laws to Social Security and Medicare. Because conservatives did not sponsor the legislation brought about by such policies but, in fact, furnished the opposition, they look churlish next to the publics liberal benefactors. This can piss a conservative off. It wears on a conservative standing on principle to have to be against things that are undeniably good, things like health care and food for poor people. After a while it may get you to feeling like kicking a liberal do-gooder where it hurts. You might almost hate the sanctimonious sonofabitch.
2. Conservatives sense, accurately, that liberals think that on the whole they are smarter than conservatives, spectacular exceptions like the late William F. Buckley, Jr. notwithstanding, and conservatives fear this might actually be the case. They have reason to worry. Studies show that people with postgraduate degrees are far more likely to be liberal than conservative. Also, the percentage of voters, both Democrat and Republican, who identify themselves as conservative is much higher than the percentage that self identifies as liberal, showing liberals to be a more exclusive group. People with creative minds, e.g., writers and other artists, tend to be liberal rather than conservative. If you doubt studies, look at a map of red states/blue states and draw your own conclusion of where the bigger brain pools reside; or check a map of states based on obesity rates, always a reliable indicator of group stupidity - of the fourteen states having the highest obesity rates, one is blue and thirteen are red. The point is that whether true or not the perception exists that liberals are brainier and the perception does not endear liberals to conservative sensibilities. If youre a conservative you might almost want to hate the snooty bastards.
Liberals of course used to be found in both political parties. Half a century ago, civil rights laws and Medicare were enacted in Congress with the help of liberal Republicans. But the drain of liberals from the Republican Party is now complete. Conservatives who dont know better like to claim Lincoln as one of their own because Lincoln was a Republican. But he was a Republican at the partys beginning, after the Whigs collapsed and former Whigs and others had formed the new party to oppose the conservative, slave friendly Democrats. In 1864, when George McClellan tried to unseat Lincoln with promises to end the war and return slavery to the South, the Democrat was the conservative, the Republican the clear progressive. In the 20th Century it turned around as we know; Democrats increasingly became the more liberal of the two parties until finally, for liberal Republicans, extinction. The Tea Party now dooms any chance for a Republican liberal. The upshot is: it is easier than ever before to almost hate liberals for if all are not in the enemy Democrat camp, they are all outsiders.
Liberals can be dismayed by conservatives. They get angry at and disgusted with conservatives. But it would be stretching things to say that liberals often get emotionally worked up to the point of almost hating conservatives. Conservatives, on the other hand, do often get worked up to the point of almost hating liberals. You see it in the blogs, you hear it on the radio. It is commonplace. Why so? Two reasons, at least, plus one reason why almost hating liberals is more popular now than it once was:
1. Liberals receive the deserved credit for most and probably all of the humane governmental policies that exist, from child labor and civil rights laws to Social Security and Medicare. Because conservatives did not sponsor the legislation brought about by such policies but, in fact, furnished the opposition, they look churlish next to the publics liberal benefactors. This can piss a conservative off. It wears on a conservative standing on principle to have to be against things that are undeniably good, things like health care and food for poor people. After a while it may get you to feeling like kicking a liberal do-gooder where it hurts. You might almost hate the sanctimonious sonofabitch.
2. Conservatives sense, accurately, that liberals think that on the whole they are smarter than conservatives, spectacular exceptions like the late William F. Buckley, Jr. notwithstanding, and conservatives fear this might actually be the case. They have reason to worry. Studies show that people with postgraduate degrees are far more likely to be liberal than conservative. Also, the percentage of voters, both Democrat and Republican, who identify themselves as conservative is much higher than the percentage that self identifies as liberal, showing liberals to be a more exclusive group. People with creative minds, e.g., writers and other artists, tend to be liberal rather than conservative. If you doubt studies, look at a map of red states/blue states and draw your own conclusion of where the bigger brain pools reside; or check a map of states based on obesity rates, always a reliable indicator of group stupidity - of the fourteen states having the highest obesity rates, one is blue and thirteen are red. The point is that whether true or not the perception exists that liberals are brainier and the perception does not endear liberals to conservative sensibilities. If youre a conservative you might almost want to hate the snooty bastards.
Liberals of course used to be found in both political parties. Half a century ago, civil rights laws and Medicare were enacted in Congress with the help of liberal Republicans. But the drain of liberals from the Republican Party is now complete. Conservatives who dont know better like to claim Lincoln as one of their own because Lincoln was a Republican. But he was a Republican at the partys beginning, after the Whigs collapsed and former Whigs and others had formed the new party to oppose the conservative, slave friendly Democrats. In 1864, when George McClellan tried to unseat Lincoln with promises to end the war and return slavery to the South, the Democrat was the conservative, the Republican the clear progressive. In the 20th Century it turned around as we know; Democrats increasingly became the more liberal of the two parties until finally, for liberal Republicans, extinction. The Tea Party now dooms any chance for a Republican liberal. The upshot is: it is easier than ever before to almost hate liberals for if all are not in the enemy Democrat camp, they are all outsiders.
