Are Conservatives More Complex Than Liberals?

We sure are a divided nation.
http://politix.topix.com/homepage/3926-are-conservatives-more-complex-than-liberals

 

Leftists see the world in black and white. They are generally low information types who are not well educated. The public schools have dumbed them down and failed to teach the skills necessary for critical analysis.

 

Actually, fundamentalists of any political stripe tend to be "black and white" types. It's definitely not exclusive to the left wing, as shown by Rush and Glenn Beck.

 

Yet, the top ten most educated stated voted for Obama and the bottom ten voted for Romney.

Oops!

 

Educated people tend to not have common sense.

Oops!

 

Lol, if Sarah Palin can understand how the entire world works based on her "conservative beliefs" than it is not more complex than liberalism. Conservatives are the simplest people on the planet. They are so simple they can describe everything in the world with just basic quips. They can even determine that global warming doesn't exist because they are told it doesn't. They can tell you how to run an economy because their ideological beliefs tell them Govt is bad. They are the simplest people out there, which is why so many uneducated people are conservatives.

 

Not really.. it's not mutually inclusive or mutually exclusive.

 

This is stupid. Some people are complex, some are stupid. Trying to blanket an entire political spectrum as the same is stupid.

 

I don't disagree with that.

 

It's rather easy to understand each side on this:

So called "conservatives" -- soak the poor and middle class and give tax breaks to the rich.

So called "liberals" -- soak the rich and give subsidies of all kinds to the poor and middle class.

What part of this game are you not getting?

Currently the breakdown of the two groups in the USA is 47% to 51%.

However the 47% is the Romney group, the so-called "conservatives."

When Romney made his speech to his donors, he made a freudian slip. Turns out his own side is the 47%.

http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/2012/results

 

Are you referring to California?

What makes you think California is well educated? I live here. I am familiar with all classes and groups in this state. Californians are not well educated. They are not truly self aware. The best educated Californians are the Baby Boomers and they're retiring. They are being replaced with people who are unskilled, ignorant, and impoverished.

 

There's nothing liberal about 'liberals', and nothing conservative about 'conservatives',

 

State Educational Ranking

Top 10 states in Science and Math

Massachusetts
Minnesota
New Jersey
New Hampshire
New York
Virginia
Maryland
Connecticut
Indiana
Maine

Bottom 10 states in Science and Math

South Carolina
Arkansas
Oklahoma
Nebraska
Nevada
Arizona
New Mexico
Alabama
Louisiana
West Virginia
Mississippi

 

Californians are not particularly smart, that is correct.

But they are not stupid enough to again elect another Reagan-esque bozo calling for more tax cuts for the rich and more oil drilling everywhere.

 

Who are you referring to?

 

Those two created personas for themselves and probably don't believe half of what they say.
Beck has his conspiracy funnel that sends everything back to George Soros, as if liberalism didn't exist before Soros started funding it.
Limbaugh is not consistent or else he wouldn't defend every action a Republican takes. He would choose the best conservatives in each election cycle and throw his whole weight behind them.
Real conservatives are more like Michael Savage (without the egotism and ranting) feeling betrayed by the Bushes, Gingrich, Romney and many others and generally disgusted with everything that's happened in the past 25 years.
The real question is what should society do to its least productive citizens. Ultra-liberals give them more money, but all that does is move the money around to the fast-food establishments, local bars and discount stores where they spend it. Ultra-conservatives would rather let them die, so the country's decreasing resources can be used to develop the talents of those who can do something useful for society.
That's where it gets tricky. Fundamentalist Christians (who of course don't want even the most useless people to die prematurely) have been pushed into the conservative column and the Republican Party because they oppose abortion and gay marriage. They feel uncomfortable next to the bigots who still want blacks in the back of the bus and switched parties in the 1960s, but they can't support the many sins the liberals advocate. This pushed all the atheists (and non-religious theists too lazy to renounce God) into the Democratic Party.

 

I don't think either side is more complicated than the other since the arguments for both sides are usually more nuanced than what appears on TV or... here for that matter.

However since the liberals control the media high ground; all of the news media and pop culture is on their side so they seldom have to address a nuanced argument brought by the right. As I've noticed for the past couple years, many ends to political arguments come down to "you're a racist." So when the media and pop culture supports a liberals argument that their opponents (or enemies in their vernacular) are evil, stupid, or both, then just calling someone a racist is, for the left, a satisfying ending to an argument. So they seldom confront actual policy positions at all.

 

This isn't really news to me. But it's good to see it quantified. I think liberals are generally more emotionally driven which makes them a little less stable and thus less logically consistent than conservatives who are more balanced. Which I guess is explained by using all six foundations.

But overall, both are supposed to have a place. Liberalism is the feminine half of the political yin and yang. It's more about feelings. Whereas conservatism is the masculine half. It's more about principles. When the two work together, they're ideally supposed to balance each other out in harmony. They're not supposed to fight like cats and dogs. Liberalism is supposed to make sure that conservatism doesn't make the world too cold and rigid and conservatism is supposed to make sure liberalism doesn't make the world too soft and mushy.

 

Not much science nor data in that article. That being said, I have not found any RW posters to provide much complex detail in their arguments ever. If they are more complex, they are hiding it well.

 

... and by higher educational attainments:

UNDERGRADUATE DEGREES

1 Massachusetts
2 Colorado
3 Maryland
4 Connecticut
5 New Jersey
6 Virginia
7 Vermont
8 New York
9 New Hampshire
10 Minnesota
11 Washington
12 Illinois
13 Rhode Island
14 California
15 Hawaii
16 Kansas
17 Oregon
18 Delaware
19 Utah
20 Georgia
21 Montana
22 Nebraska
23 Maine
24 Alaska
25 North Carolina
26 Pennsylvania
27 North Dakota
28 Wisconsin
29 Arizona
30 Texas
31 Florida
32 New Mexico
33 Missouri
34 Iowa 25.1%
35 South Dakota
36 Michigan
37 South Carolina
38 Ohio
39 Idaho
40 Wyoming
41 Tennessee
42 Oklahoma
43 Indiana
44 Alabama
46 Louisiana
47 Kentucky
48 Mississippi
49 Arkansas
50 West Virginia

GRADUATE DEGREES

1 Massachusetts
2 Maryland
3 Connecticut
4 Virginia
5 New York
6 Vermont
7 New Jersey
8 Colorado
9 Illinois
10 Rhode Island
11 Delaware
12 New Hampshire
13 Washington
14 California
15 New Mexico
16 Oregon
17 Minnesota
18 Kansas
19 Pennsylvania
20 Georgia
21 Hawaii
22 Maine
23 Missouri
24 Michigan
26 Utah
27 Alaska
28 Florida
29 Nebraska
30 North Carolina
31 Ohio
32 Kentucky
33 Texas
34 South Carolina
35 Wisconsin
36 Montana
37 Indiana
38 Tennessee
39 Wyoming
40 Alabama
41 Nevada
42 Idaho
43 Iowa
44 Oklahoma
45 South Dakota
46 Mississippi
47 Louisiana
48 North Dakota
49 West Virginia
50 Arkansas

 

Or perhaps you are too stupid to understand?

 

Unfortunately, this is also true. Which is why genius nerds can't figure out how to attract women. Cruel irony, eh? You've got the biggest brain in the species and cannot even figure out how to reproduce to pass your genius genetics on.

Common sense is largely independent of education. It's an entirely different skill set. It ties in more with wisdom. Wisdom is not taught in schools. It is acquired through life experience. And it can only enter an open mind. A closed mind is literally wisdom-proof. Because no new information can ever get in.

 

Absolutists see the world in black and white. Absolutists can be of any political persuasion. Your bias renders your judgment useless.

 

Stupid people always think that smart people are stupid, but then smart people always think that stupid people are stupid.







.

 

It's made pretty clear at PF that liberals are emotional reasoners and conservatives employ logic and an appreciation for what has worked in the past and what has not.