On Nov 6, 2004, at 9:02 AM, John D. Giorgis wrote:
I don't agree with everything in here, but this piece is outstanding,
and
should be read by everyone interested in electoral politics to at least
consider the ideas he presents.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/06/opinion/06brooks.html?hp
If there are some responses to this I will probably post my thoughts
and
criticisms...
Interesting read. I'm glad to see this:
I've spent the past four years traveling to 36 states and
writing millions of words trying to understand this values
divide, and I can tell you there is no one explanation.
I'm sometimes tempted to find "one explanation" myself, and I like to
think that it's not (only) because I'm a liberal -- it's because (I
flatter myself) I try to see through what /appear/ to be the issues
(abortion, gay marriage, etc) to the underlying human traits that are
being used to attract votes.
It was almost an aside, but I found the following graph telling:
The fact is that if you think we are safer now, you probably
voted for Bush. If you think we are less safe, you probably
voted for Kerry. That's policy, not fundamentalism. The upsurge
in voters was an upsurge of people with conservative policy
views, whether they are religious or not.
So it's not just self-righteousness, but fear /and/ self-righteousness
that fueled the victory. Oh, wait. I'm oversimplifying again...
Dave
Fear, /Greed/, and Self-Righteousness?
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