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cloudboy -> Different Mindsets: Conservatives v. Liberals (2/25/2010 10:59:02 AM)
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The fundamental difference between liberals and conservatives is in our mindsets, and longtime Baltimore Sun Reporter, Jack Germond, had this way of summing it up:
It isn’t difficult to see why conservatives dominate the talk shows and the little magazines – it’s called moral certitude. They are so sure not only that they are right but that their opponents are wrong and, in many cases, morally corrupt. For some reason lost on me, the rise of conservatism has come hand in hand with an increase in the number of journalists who have gone public with their religious fundamentalism.
The nature of the debate among the politicians has followed a parallel course. In the days of Barry Goldwater, his admirers believed that the progressive Republicans who follow Nelson Rockefeller were wrong on the issues but still Republicans entitled to be heard within the party. These days the noisiest leaders of the far right – the Quayles, Dick Armeys, Newt Gingriches, Tom DeLays--- seem to believe liberal political opponents have no “family values.”
We are treated to Senator Rick Santorum of Penn. Braying about how “evil” had been cleansed from the Senate when a bill restricting abortion passed. It has never been made clear who chose any of these people as moral arbiters for our society. (Equally puzzling is how the voters of Penn. Experiences a mass dizzy spell on no just one but two election days, when they chose and then reelected Santorum.)
On the other hand, liberals by definition seem less positive about the rightness of their positions. Their ethic includes tolerance of other views, something that does not burden the Limbaughs or Santorums of the world. The difference is apparent, for example, in the language used to identify the two sides in the abortion rights debate. The conservative are “pro-life” and the liberals “pro choice,” a term that can imply a somewhat wishy washy lack of certitude.
Whatever the reason, it has become clear that there is little demand for liberal talk show hosts, on either radio or television. The listeners and viewers and many newspaper readers, as well, apparently want strong guidance in their lives. And what they don’t want is someone telling them all about how on the one hand we have so-and-so, on the other we have such-and-such. There is, in short, no market for thoughtful agonizing over issues.
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