Arrogant Conservatism
Nice to see Michael Kinsley regain his footing. In the Los Angeles Times (sorry, registration required), he makes this observation, vis-a-vis blues (us) vs. reds:
"There's just one little request I have. If it's not too much trouble, of course. Call me profoundly misguided if you want. Call me immoral if you must. But could you please stop calling me arrogant and elitist?
"I mean, look at it this way. (If you don't mind, that is.) It's true that people on my side of the divide want to live in a society where women are free to choose and where gay relationships have civil equality with straight ones. And you want to live in a society where the opposite is true. These are some of those conflicting values everyone is talking about. But at least my values ? as deplorable as I'm sure they are ? don't involve any direct imposition on you. We don't want to force you to have an abortion or to marry someone of the same sex, whereas you do want to close out those possibilities for us. Which is more arrogant?
"We on my side of the great divide don't, for the most part, believe that our values are direct orders from God. We don't claim that they are immutable and beyond argument. We are, if anything, crippled by reason and open-mindedness, by a desire to persuade rather than insist. Which philosophy is more elitist? Which is more contemptuous of people who disagree?"
That describes as well as I've seen one of the core differences between those of us who are liberals and those who call themselves conservative. We allow for the possibility that the conservatives are right and for the most part do not impose restrictions on their lifestyles. They are sure that they are right and we are wrong and therefore believe that we must live as they wish us to. As Kinsley asks, which attitude is more arrogant and elitist?
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I was just thinking about this the other day. It is also interesting that Republicans often side with corporations that are run by the elite, yet they don't seem to count. I think the imposition vs openmindedness theme needs to be spelled out more.
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