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matrixx8
Joined: 17 Jun 2005
Posts: 1193
Location: Amsterdam
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 Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 10:55 am Post subject: What Makes People Vote Republican? |
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Anyone familiar with Edge should be interested in this scientific study which, surprisingly, claims that Republicans may have far better insights into political motives than Democrats do.
With aplogies to Cheryl, it looks to me like Jonathan Haidt's study confirms much of what John Wilkins has been saying all along about the organization of politics in the USA.
The article is fairly long, but well worth the read. Click on "continue" at the end for a further discussion of this provocative piece.
| Quote: | What makes people vote Republican? Why in particular do working class and rural Americans usually vote for pro-business Republicans when their economic interests would seem better served by Democratic policies? We psychologists have been examining the origins of ideology ever since Hitler sent us Germany's best psychologists, and we long ago reported that strict parenting and a variety of personal insecurities work together to turn people against liberalism, diversity, and progress. But now that we can map the brains, genes, and unconscious attitudes of conservatives, we have refined our diagnosis: conservatism is a partially heritable personality trait that predisposes some people to be cognitively inflexible, fond of hierarchy, and inordinately afraid of uncertainty, change, and death. People vote Republican because Republicans offer "moral clarity"—a simple vision of good and evil that activates deep seated fears in much of the electorate. Democrats, in contrast, appeal to reason with their long-winded explorations of policy options for a complex world.
Diagnosis is a pleasure. It is a thrill to solve a mystery from scattered clues, and it is empowering to know what makes others tick. In the psychological community, where almost all of us are politically liberal, our diagnosis of conservatism gives us the additional pleasure of shared righteous anger. We can explain how Republicans exploit frames, phrases, and fears to trick Americans into supporting policies (such as the "war on terror" and repeal of the "death tax") that damage the national interest for partisan advantage.
But with pleasure comes seduction, and with righteous pleasure comes seduction wearing a halo. Our diagnosis explains away Republican successes while convincing us and our fellow liberals that we hold the moral high ground. Our diagnosis tells us that we have nothing to learn from other ideologies, and it blinds us to what I think is one of the main reasons that so many Americans voted Republican over the last 30 years: they honestly prefer the Republican vision of a moral order to the one offered by Democrats. To see what Democrats have been missing, it helps to take off the halo, step back for a moment, and think about what morality really is. |
Imagine, a scientific explanation of the Culture Wars!
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| Quote: | "The true triumph of reason is that it enables us to get along with those who do not possess it."
-Voltaire
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johnwilkins
Joined: 15 Apr 2002
Posts: 4862
Location: West Coast
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| Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 1:51 pm Post subject: |
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| matrixx8 wrote: | | With apologies to Cheryl, it looks to me like Jonathan Haidt's study confirms much of what John Wilkins has been saying all along about the organization of politics in the USA. |
Why apologies?
The interesting thing to me is that the liberals claim to be smarter than conservatives. If they are so smart, then why are they so easily beaten by relatively simple campaign strategies? Why put a Barack Obama on the ticket when you could have an Evan Bayh, or somesuch? Why support gay marriage? I mean, forget your moral disposition for a moment. If you are smart enough to do the electoral college math, why would you put someone on top of the ticket who might lose in those places? Why support partial birth abortions? Why not just first tri-mester on demand? That makes a hell of a lot more sense, and it's a more moderate opinion. Why not call the Iraq War inadvisable instead of attacking the country itself as a den of war criminals? Why highlight Palin's inexperience when it only highlights Obamas? I just can't figure it out.
What that does in the minds of the voters is turn them toward the party that provides a straightforward confirmation of people's basic moral, spiritual, and cultural values. The crazy thing is that we have a close race when the Democrats could have an insurmountable lead if they just didn't put someone at the top of the ticket that hates the average American and highlights it everyday by association to people who wage unbelievably lurid attacks on Sarah Palin. Now Obama is following her wherever she goes to give speeches not long after she does.
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matrixx8
Joined: 17 Jun 2005
Posts: 1193
Location: Amsterdam
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| Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 3:05 pm Post subject: |
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| johnwilkins wrote: | | matrixx8 wrote: | | With apologies to Cheryl, it looks to me like Jonathan Haidt's study confirms much of what John Wilkins has been saying all along about the organization of politics in the USA. |
Why apologies?
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An attempt at irony, John. No offence. 
| johnwilkins wrote: | | The interesting thing to me is that the liberals claim to be smarter than conservatives. If they are so smart, then why are they so easily beaten by relatively simple campaign strategies? |
The entire study was designed to answer this question. Your analysis has little to do with the conclusions reached.
| Jonathan Haidt wrote: | This is the first rule of moral psychology: feelings come first and tilt the mental playing field on which reasons and arguments compete. If people want to reach a conclusion, they can usually find a way to do so. The Democrats have historically failed to grasp this rule, choosing uninspiring and aloof candidates who thought that policy arguments were forms of persuasion.
I would say that the second rule of moral psychology is that morality is not just about how we treat each other (as most liberals think); it is also about binding groups together, supporting essential institutions, and living in a sanctified and noble way. |
I suggest you read the paper and then discuss its specifics. It is by no means clear that the conclusions reached are valid, or even meaningful. That is the point of this discussion, if it emerges.
| johnwilkins wrote: | | What that does in the minds of the voters is turn them toward the party that provides a straightforward confirmation of people's basic moral, spiritual, and cultural values. |
This is closer to Haidt's thesis. But, remember, he is specifically talking about America. European democracies, for example, are much more open to rational arguments than they are to visceral appeals. Haidt's point, I think, is that because Americans still hold deeply rooted religious values, they are less responsive to loftly appeals to reason.
He does not advocate any kind of pandering to irrational motives. He does not advocate teaching creationism in science class or downgrading human rights to include only those who are white, Angelo-Saxon and Protestant. He is talking about a broader strategy with a more emotive appeal to universal values.
Obama, by the way, and McCain both make such appeals. That may be one reason why the race is so close. However, although Dr. Haidt doesn't go into it in detail, there are times when issues count more than universal platitutides. With the failures on Wall Street, this seems to be one of those times.
And, as we shall see, there are many obvious objections to Haidt's premises and conclusions.
_________________
| Quote: | "The true triumph of reason is that it enables us to get along with those who do not possess it."
-Voltaire
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