"The Liberal Mind: The Psychological Causes of Political Madness." Lyle Rossiter, Jr., M.D. Maybe we should all take a deep breath and read this book by a University of Chicago forensic psychiatrist who has testified in thousands of civil and criminal cases. I understand it is a bit dry, but it may explain some behaviors on the Left. Don't anticipate much self-diagnosis around here, much less a curative effect, but it might be nice to get some insight into the rantings that appear so regularly.
Some selected quotes followed my thoughts: Quote: "What the liberal mind is passionate about is a world filled with pity, sorrow, neediness, misfortune, poverty, suspicion, mistrust, anger, exploitation, discrimination, victimization, alienation and injustice. Those who occupy this world are “workers,” “minorities,” “the little guy,” “women,” and the “unemployed.” ". Thought: I think the good doctor would find common ground there with many authoritarian leaders. Let's see Stalin, Franco and Hitler come to mind as well as the South African Leaders. They decided what was best for the "workers," "the little guy," "women," and "the unemployed." Sounds a lot like the "Nanny State" that the right wing so despises with the exception that only white males are the best judges and not the "whole" of the population. Quote: " Rather than praying to a higher power to strengthen and guide us in our personal labors to serve others as we serve ourselves, we plead to our legislators for a place at the public trough and hope that they will do unto us at least as generously as they do unto others. Big government revenue has become in effect the income of a very large family whose many children vie for indulgence, while ready at any moment to protest in the name of egalitarianism if one sibling seems to be getting more than another". Thought: Trust in a "higher power" that only exists through faith (and who's faith? - Christians, Jews, Hindu, Muslims - I think we know what he would choose) is a substitute for a collective decision to form a means of establishing laws for the protection and sustenance from uncertainty and anarchy? The "very large family whose many children vie for indulgence" is really just coded racism. Final thought:Not particularly original. We've heard it all before ........ in English, German, Spanish, Italian, Arabic, Chinese etc.
To the extent that the author might have an accurate grasp of people with certain character traits gravitating towards some set of liberal ideals, he greatly errs if he attempts to collectively group all people who fall on the liberal side of the spectrum as having the character traits he details. In support of his attempt to link character traits to political attitudes, I think he would find similar examples in conservatives who are staunch proponents of authoritarian and thereby undemocratic principles that violate laws and the rights of others for a belief in some personally held greater good. .
The left is not about "goverment" govt is the tool that can be controlled democratically and therefore the best. Other tools like churches, corporations, Ancient government etc. Are not viable for reaching the goal of equality. As for the topic at hand, there is real research regarding the rightwing mind, did the OP bother to read that?
No! as in REAL is RESEARCH carried out, as in peer reviewed and published in a JOURNAL, not a silly paperback
Do you think Jesus would alter facts to go to war with Iraq and kill thousands of lives? That "author" needs a liberal bong hit.
Golly. We seem to have touched on a nerve here. Like a bunch of toothless piranha circling a side of beef. I would think a Chicago shrink who has testified in thousands of cases might have a clue as to what he is talking about. At a minimum, it would be interesting to compare his work with those who find parallel psychosis on the right. Maybe Andropov's goons were right-anyone who doesn't buy into Communism is crazy. and needs to be in the booby-hatch. As for you who think all the authoritarians of the 20th Century were on the Right, you might give a thought to reading Liberal Fascism. Woodrow Wilson-with Palmer's Red Raids and a lot of other WW1 measures, was a role model for Mussolini. Hitler's party was the National SOCIALIST Workers Party. Roosevelt's NRA and CCC were plainly fascist. Need we mention Stalin and Mao. What could be more fascist than taking child-rearing rights away from parents and giving them to the "Village." History is a little more complex than some of us realize. I remember a History prof at UT lambasting Whittaker Chambers as being crazy. Well, he wasn't. Alger Hiss was a Soviet agent, as were Lauchlin Currie and lots of other New Dealers. I have always wondered about Harry Hopkins, but I'm not aware of his appearance in the Venona tapes.
Personally....I think any REAL research in this area is pure hogwash. Cut the peer review baloney. This isn't a global warming thread.
Your goal is equality?? WTF? The HAVEs and the HAVE-NOTs must exist. There is a place for both. Not EVERYONE is equal. Using government programs to achieve that goal is foolish. If Democrats want equality for everyone, then that actually explains a lot.
Other tools like churches, corporations, Ancient government etc. Are not viable for reaching the goal of equality. _________________________________________________ I don't understand the hate for corporations and churches, they do a lot more good than public interest groups that only waste tax dollars. corporations provide the majority of the employed in this country which then provide the tax dollars to support government which then provides money for those leaches to waste. i guess i don't understand why there is hatred for the hands that feed you.....i guess my main disagreement with liberalism is this irrational pursuit for equality....now i believe in racial and gender equality, but this search for economic equality is impossible if you believe in capitalism...some people are simply better than others at earning money and it is not governments job to change that. you wouldnt see a liberal stop a tiger from killing its prey because it is a part of "nature." well, we are animals as well and we have our own version of survival of the fitest.
For three years at UT I had subscriptions to both The New Republic and National Review. I compared articles on the same or similar subjects all the time, and enjoyed it. A friend suggested I try comparing American Opinion (a John Birch publication) and Realites (I think it was anarchist). This went a little too far in both directions. Anyway, I drifted away from this practice, but I still have no trouble spotting premises with which I disagree.
