At the end of a long political argument, a young democrat said to me, “Wouldn’t you ever consider voting against your own self-interest?” And I replied “Of course not. That would be absurd. The whole point of voting is picking a leader who I believe has my best interests at heart.”
On another occasion, I watched the character Denny Crane of Boston Legal commenting on being conservative. He said “We get it. We’re wrong. We don’t CARE!!!” Somehow, his frustration really resonates with me. For a long time now, democrats have been making me feel guilty for believing what I believe and for voting the way I vote. I'm becomming more than just a little disgusted with the whole political system.
Just what makes us so different? What is it at the core that separates Republican from Democrat? As I remember that argument with the young democrat, I think I probably am more selfish that I ought to be. But that’s hard-wired into me from birth, right? Self preservation is the number one priority. But if self preservation is number one, what is number two?
Developing a desire for group preservation was probably the most important factor in the evolution of society, early villages and language. If you look at averages, cities are usually the stronghold of the liberal / Democrats while the suburbs and rural communities are the center of conservative / Republican thinking. Group preservation may be hard wired into us genetically as strongly as self preservation. On the other hand, if there weren’t a lot of folks who still preferred to live away from the village, the plagues might have ended us as a species. So maybe it is by design that about half of us see group preservation as the most important thing and the other half of us see self preservation as the most important thing. Maybe that diversity is why we succeeded as a species.
Could it really be that simple? That placing a priority on group preservation over self preservation, or the other way around, is all that separates Democrat from Republican and even Communist from Capitalist?
An interesting premise for sure. On it's face, it makes a lot of sense. However, how does one explain why so many Republicans died for their country? No self interest there. A very bad generalization on my part, but I'll say it anyways.... I think you'll find more patriotism and self sacrifice by those who espouse Republican beliefs than you'd find elsewhere. I think it's more to the core than your aim. I see the difference (generally speaking) as "What can somebody do to help me?" versus "How can I do it for myself?". Again, a very bad generalization as that's not true in all cases. I can't provide proof that it's true in even "most" cases. It just appears that way as the loudest voice always gets the most attention. By the way, Democrats like Denny Crane too! How do you explain that one? :>)
ReplyDelete@Chevalier Ok, let's start with an easy one. Democrats may like Denny Crane because he's a caricature of a republican. While he represents much that can be admired, he also represents all of the worst excesses. I think they like him because he reinforces what they want to think of all of us.
ReplyDeleteI never meant to imply that no republican would do a selfless act, far from it. But I do assert that there's a fundamental difference between how republicans and democrats prioritize and that MAYBE it goes to something much deeper; something intrinsict to being human. That's why I referenced Communism v.s. Capitolism as well. That isn't to equate being a democrat to being a communist. It was intended to point out that a similar rift exists even where there are no democrats and republicnas.
BTW, thank you for your comments. It's great to know someone is reading this!