We’re in E.J. Dionne’s Head, He Wants Into Ours
22nd October 2019
There’s a certain kind of liberal who likes to tell conservatives what they should think about this or that matter in order to be true to conservatism. He has no counterpart on the other side of the political divide. I know of no conservative who gets off on telling liberals what they should think about anything. We tend to confine ourselves to pointing out liberal hypocrisy.
What explains this difference between liberals and conservatives? Perhaps it’s just that conservatives are less inclined to waste time telling people who don’t share our perspective what they should think. Maybe liberals are more sanctimonious than conservatives. It might have something to do with conservatives getting into heads of liberals more than the other way around.
October 22nd, 2019 at 10:08
I think it’s because every so often the logic of the conservative makes sense to all but the most radical of the libs. Things like, “How are you going to pay for that program?”, for example. Now to a conservative, that would be an invitation to think the situation through and find a logical answer. But to a lib, it’s just a very bad irritation that upsets their private (and imaginary) utopia.
October 22nd, 2019 at 16:33
They object to our tendency to harsh their mellow. My heart breaks for them.