Liberal Psychology

Sorry to see that you haven't replied to my argument and have allowed our debate to end with a forfeit. But since I'm apparently allowed to post a round two argument anyway I'll just contribute a few more thoughts on the nature of the conservative weltanschauung and mind-set. If the religious right's ole almighty Jehovah was a Trekkie and was remaking the world in the image of the Star Trek universe I think that he would most certainly cast the souls of conservatives as Klingons. At least he would if he was casting on the basis of people's politics and general attitudes, the attitudes of conservatives really do make them naturals for the role of Klingons.The hard-boiled kernel of conservatism is after all a Klingon-like mentality that values strength and dominance. This does explain much about conservatism and its adherents. For example, it explains why so many macho types tend to hold conservative views and vote for right-wing Republicans. Well, have you ever wondered why it is that macho men (and women) are more likely to be conservatives than liberals? Could there perhaps be a causal correlation staring us in the face? Could it possibly be that conservative, rightist views come from a macho place in the human psyche, and that conservatism is largely just an ideological outgrowth from this primitively he-manly recess of our minds? The dominance-oriented nature of the conservative mind-set also explains why the gamut of conservatism ranges from fascism on its lunatic fringe to the free-market fundamentalism of mainstream Republicans. The will to social dominance can express itself as the fascist's desire to establish his authoritarian domination over his society, to impose his agenda and ideology by force of law and government. Or, conversely, our inner caveman can aspire to social dominance through economic success, through being a successful capitalist. Our inner caveman can use the club and the power of the state, like a good fascist. Or, he can view the laissez-faire capitalist system as the ideal playing field for him to seek the privileged and superior socio-economic status he craves. Well, the so-called "free market" in its most ideologically pure form would be a law-of-the-jungle sort of environment where a dominance-oriented specimen would feel right at home clawing out his own economic mastery over his fellow man. So, surprise surprise, many conservatives are staunch free-marketeers rather than full-out fascists. The Klingon-like psychology behind conservative ideology also explains the conservative's position on issues such as capital punishment. Naturally the tendency of a macho mentality is going to be to respond to violent crime with swiftly violent and lethal punishment. Having mercy and compassion on the enemy in society's "war on crime" is merely showing weakness and practicing namby-pamby liberalism as far as the tough-minded adherents of conservatism are concerned. Their whole holier-than-thou Christian pro-life stance gets facilely shunted aside when it comes to the bullyboy way they wage war. Which explains how it is that it's usually conservatives (or macho adolescent males) that can be heard pontificating about how we should fight our wars brutally all-out and bomb the enemy into the Stone Age. Conservatives tend to be "pro-defense" and hawks because that Stone-Age warmonger tucked away in the back of their brains isn't that keen on seeking more civilized resolutions for the world's conflicts and problems. All the pragmatic or philosophical rationales that conservatives give when they're taking us into war boil down to the brutish thinking of Broud (a Clan of the Cave Bear reference). As for the militaristic patriotism of conservatives, it's merely the aggressively tribalistic, us-them outlook of our primitive ancestors hanging on in a modern form. That is, superpatriots usually tend to be conservatives because their in-your-face nationalism is just the will to group supremacy dressed up with the rubbishy rhetoric of keeping the world safe for democracy and defending the rule of law. What about the conservative's "traditional values" and positions on moral issues? Here too we find the insensitivity of the macho mentality causing conservatives to gravitate toward unkind opinions and policies. Toward cruelly denying gays the right to codify their love by getting legally married. Toward repealing the right of women to control their own bodies when they find themselves with an unwanted pregnancy. Toward forcing their fundamentalist religiosity on the rest of society by posting the Ten Commandments in public places, regardless of how this makes non-Christians feel hurtfully disincluded. The conservative is unconsciously motivated to adopt his judgmental and domineering positions on social issues by the feeling of moral superiority those positions grant him, and by the sense of social power imposing them on society allows him to enjoy. Once again, it's the dominance-oriented mentality's desire for superiority and control that determines the "values", beliefs, and politics of conservatives. The dominance-oriented mentality is also a fearful mentality, one that thinks in terms of threats and defending against them. People with a pronounced dominance-oriented mentality, such as dyed-in-the-wool conservatives, are always fearfully concerned about the threat of someone else trying to dominate them. The hostility of conservatives toward liberals is largely a manifestation of such fear. Conservatives genuinely fear that they're in a "culture war" for their freedom to read their Bible and practice wholesome morals, and that "liberals" are the traitors within whom they imperatively need to defeat. Liberals, to the conservative mind, are the aggressors and are trying to force their ungodliness and immorality on the good down-home, conservative-thinking folk of society. This accounts for the vehemence and violence of so much conservative rhetoric, and for the defensive indignation with which conservatives keep inciting and fueling the culture war. The upshot of this is that winning on issues such as abortion means much more to conservatives than saving the lives of fetuses, the abortion issue is a front on the culture war for the larger cultural and social domination of American civilization. If conservatives can abolish a woman's right to choose that goes a long way toward consolidating their victory and establishing their hegemony. Having their way on abortion is kind of like the conservative's equivalent of an alpha dog mounting and urinating on a lower ranking member of the pack to demonstrate his top status. This is why conservatives are so passionately invested in the abortion issue, the social dominance they covet is at stake. And the same holds true for same-sex marriage and a host of other supposedly moral issues. Sure, some conservatives are mild and relatively inoffensive about expressing their dominance-oriented view of the world, and on a personal level, if you steer their conversation away from political and cultural topics, they can be pleasant company. However, their fundamental mental modus operandi is hardly progressive, compassionate, or even all that life-affirming. And the political and economic clout that conservatives continue to exercise in our society is a serious obstacle to our ability to create a more humane, kind, and just way of life.