In fact, right and left brain specialties can actually conflict. Howard Gardner, a cognitive psychologist, believes that the prevalence of artistic ability in autistic children might be due to their absence of language, and an absence of this cerebral conflict. These factors of cognition, so vital to most human activities, may interfere with depicting the world in a visually faithful manner. Probably it is better to put off using words as long as possible and get one's meaning as clear as one can through pictures or sensations. In her 1979 art instruction book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain , Betty Edwards used a holistic understanding of brain physiology to illustrate how the left brain habits of classification, reasoning, interpretation and conceptualization can hinder our ability to see shape, line and pattern.
Most politicians hope so.
Still, the mental conflict is brief, and can be overcome by a conscious choice to use the subordinate hemisphere. For most people attempting to draw realistic pictures, the right hemisphere is usually subordinate, and requires training to increase spatial perception. In politics, though, the subordinate hemisphere is most certainly the left. Maybe, in the upcoming 2000 elections, our nation might just dust off the old left hemisphere, plug it in, and critically evaluate the emotional imagery thrown down at us from political podiums. Until we do, the Left's assumption that our dumb-downed electorate needs the management of a nanny state will remain, unfortunately, true.