Liberals, Conservatives, and Open-Mindedness
At Marginal Revolution, Tyler Cowen asks his readers whether self-identified conservatives are more 'closed-minded' than self-identified liberals.
To me, the answer is quite plainly yes, and not only because I am a liberal who dislikes conservative values. Once upon a time, the conservative movement actually contained useful ideas about domestic, economic, and foreign policy that provided an intellectual balance to liberalism. This balance no longer exists, in large part due to conservatism's abandonment of intellectualism.
What has happened over the past generation is that the conservative movement has effectively embraced anti-intellectualism as its guiding creed. This began with the election of Ronald Reagan as President and has reached its apotheosis with the rise of Sarah Palin. In the conservative mind, Palin's lack of knowledge and expertise are virtues rather than liabilities. Her very simplicity makes her somehow more authentic.
This dislike of intellectualism has led conservatives to adopt an essentially reductionist set of policy ideas. Economic policy? Cut taxes and everything will be fine. Environmental policy? Drill baby drill. Foreign policy? Perpetual war, uber-patriotism, obsessive veneration of the military, and other fascist trappings. Domestic policy? Guns and God. That's basically about it.
A generation ago, when conservatism still had intellectual integrity, the answer to Cowen's question might have been 'no', or at least 'not necessarily'. Nowadays closed-mindedness isn't just a characteristic of conservatism, it's a principle.
April 14th, 2010 - 19:55
I would say most liberals are also close-minded toward conservative values. I for one pay no attention to the strengths of anything Palin says because I think she is a dim-witted idiot. I refuse to listen to any religion-based argument. Similar to conservatives not listening to the strengths of the left for thinking they are bleeding-heart suckers and atheists with no values.
May 18th, 2010 - 15:58
I think the Republican party had their chance to create smaller government. But the sacrifice to cut spending was too difficult. Not tallying the cost of Iraq/Afganistan into the federal budget was dishonest. The earmarks were just corrupt. George W Bush didn’t have a work ethic. It just didn’t add up. The toilet got plugged up and nobody wants to make the sacrifices necessary to clean it up. Politeness or even reasonableness was beyond the pale — Tom DeLay!!!!
If you want conservative values and smaller government balance the budget, make the hard choices, anything else it smoke and mirrors.