What is the number one emotion you think guides Conservatism?

[msallied]

Is it ignorance? Hatred? Fear?

I think it's fear. I think even the word "conservative" denotes fear. Fear of change. Fear of progress. Fear of the unknown. Their displays of rugged cowboy politics cover up what is basically a giant pit of terror over that which is different. They call liberals "wusses" or "bleeding hearts." But I cannot think of a single piece of conservative-backed legislation that isn't wedged or rooted in fear.

Anyway, just ruminating out loud here, but it occurs to me more and more when I see the desperate tactics of the flailing Republican Party. If they were scared before, they're definitely peeing in their pants now.

[peace13]

1. Must add greed to the list...n/t

[NoSheep]

2. Fear. fear causes the hatred. Ignorance isn't really an emotion...but it may cause the fear!

[msallied]

6. You're right about ignorance. :) Good point!

[NoSheep]

71. Ignorance is the problem. Even the RICH can be so very ignorant.

The poor and ignorant, who are helped by the Democratic party's policies, but duped by the rich into thinking they are somehow "part of the crowd"...this is just the worst crime imaginable. They vote against themselves. It makes my brain hurt. I'm sure you feel the same...having to live out your years watching the most ignorant control our entire lives.

So you've really got it sewed up, in my opinion. Ignorance creates the fear and fear leads to the hatred.

[phantom power]

3. fear.

[JuniperLea]

4. Greed and jealousy and fear

It's not my dad's GOP anymore... I guess that's why he jumped ship in time to vote for Obama!

[msallied]

9. Definitely. I mean, I can see a certan wisdom in "holding back" that conservatism brings to mind.

But that's not what they do. It's more like a stubborn digging-in of the heels. I really don't get it. I can't think of anything good that's been accomplished by inertia or regressive action, and that's what conservatives seem to demand.

[lunatica]

15. I think there's a lot of envy in the mix

If they call us elite, that's envy. They know we're more educated and open minded and inclusive and more popular and caring. So they kind of secretly hate us the way people hate popular people. They secretly wish they had all the attention. But their envy is the kind they hide and which they act on only in secret and behind everyone's back. They're back stabbers.

[msallied]

19. I agree. It could also be self-loathing too, in a sense.

When you see, for instance, these anti-gay bigots getting caught with their pants down in the men's room, it's pretty clear that they exercise a lot of defense mechanisms to cover up their shame (likely caused by their upbringing) over who they truly are. It's kind of sad.

[JuniperLea]

30. Yes, very sad

Perhaps they are jealous of the abandon some gay people have. One of my gay buddies used to call his partner "The Happy Homosexual" because after he finally divorced his female wife, came out of the closet, learned that the shame foisted upon him in his youth had nothing to do with him but much to do with his attackers, he was so freaking happy!

[JuniperLea]

24. Very well said!

I agree completely!

[NoSheep]

72. You know I felt this from my family, my community I grew up in, my co-workers,

and even some of my "friends". Pitiful, isn't it?

[Ian David]

5. Fear.

Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. I sense much fear in them.

[TwilightZone]

7. Greed for them; fear for the rest of us

[mvd]

23. +1

:thumbsup:

[sakabatou]

8. Fear, greed or hate.

Or maybe a combo.

[OneGrassRoot]

10. Fear, self-loathing for the extreme right-wingers. n/t

[JayMusgrove]

11. Selfishness, anger, disdain for authority.

Oh, wait, that's a lot more than a word.

But seriously, some Republicans are paranoid about any government, but most of them are just selfish and simplistic.

I have a brother in law who never understood that there are social and economic problems that need a government intervention, who lives on his trust fund, and collects his Social Security retirement, and yet hates government. He's one of those that voted for Nixon in 1960, and only this past year realized that government had a place in his life, for his income and medical care, so he voted for Obama... but he was a Republican, then a libertarian for ages....thank gawd he saw the light in his 70's.

[msallied]

14. I think libertarians are an interesting breed.

They seem almost bipolar. Highly progressive in the social sense, but absolutely obtuse in the fiscal one. It's black and white thinking in its purest form.

[ananda]

12. No question. Hate.

nt

[polichick]

13. FEAR - hatred is just fear in disguise.

[KittyWampus]

95. I agree with you. Jealousy, hatred, greed are all fear in disguise

[DevonRex]

16. Hate. The fear they have isn't even real. It's just their excuse to hate.

I think a good number of them are evil. And I won't excuse them one little bit by saying they're just "scared."

[msallied]

21. But why else would they hate if they weren't afraid?

It's like layers and layers of hatred covering a seed of fear. I don't think fear excuses them, in my opinion. You can control your fears if you truly want to.

[DevonRex]

55. Because they're just evil. Plain and simple. I know real fear. And

what they have isn't fear. It's hatred and a desire to control everybody else. There's a sociopathic element to it. They don't feel any sort of empathy for other people.

[Stellabella]

85. I agree. They just hate people, pure and simple.

[Hekate]

17. Fear and rage, 2 sides of the same coin...

Conservatives were not always this way, but their leadership embraced the Dark Side and propagandized them into doing likewise.

Hekate

[JoePhilly]

20. Agree!!! Its a mix of .... Fear ... hate ... and then anger.

[azmouse]

18. Malevolence

[ClarkUSA]

22. I know some young deeply religious married Protestant couples w/kids from last year's campaigning.

They are very charming, kind-hearted, well-off people but their religious beliefs (they are not Southern Baptists; rather they live
in Western PA) put them squarely against gay marriage, abortion, etc. They are not insane, crazy ideologues but they consider
themselves "good Republicans" for that reason. Social wedge issues matter to a large silent sector of the non-teabagging GOP
base.

[msallied]

25. Maybe I'm being too controversial in saying this, but...

I think a lot of deep religious belief is also rooted in fear. Fear of hell, fear of punishment, etc. Why else would people want to serve such a wrathful, jealous entity were it not for the fear of what it would do to them otherwise? I don't think this is mutually exclusive of them being good people, but they're still afraid. I think this is why I think fear was my number one choice. I don't think all of them hate. But I think they're all afraid.

[ClarkUSA]

34. My acquaintances would disagree, but an exchange I had with one of the wives was revealing.

She told me about her husband's emergency open heart surgery. The cardiologist gave the guy (who is only in his mid-30's) only
a 50-50 chance of making it through. I said, "You must have been pretty concerned!" She said, "No, actually I wasn't. I trusted in
God." Her husband made it through, which strengthened her magical belief in God. Wonder what she would have thought if he
had died? Her rationalizing would have been intense, I'd imagine.

[msallied]

37. That is interesting. I've seen similar thinking in action.

The certainty that God will be on their side, and cognitive dissonance that happens when things don't go as they hoped. Of course, I've seen a complete breakdown of faith in such scenarios, but I suppose it all depends on how deeply-rooted they are in that institution.

[ClarkUSA]

59. It's been the same thinking throughout millenia, I'd imagine.

[Geek_Girl]

26. Fear leads to anger.

Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. and it all leads to the Dark Side.

[VAliberal]

27. FEAR

or fear with a smattering of barely contained rage

[endarkenment]

28. Greed and its cousin Fear.

Conservatism defends the ruling class and its control over the mechanisms of the state. Conservatism fears anything that can upset the established order, no matter how unrelated it is from the ruling class's grip on the mechanisms of wealth and power, because any change at all represents a potential loss of that control.

[msallied]

33. Very well said!

I think that's what infuriates me most about conservatives. Their stodgy refusal to budge on anything, to consider nuance and gray areas. To think outside the box. To lend an ear to the new and insist that the old way of doing things is the only way. That men who lives 250 years ago continue to hold the key to what is right. As if they were soothsayers of some sort. Not that I will completely disparage the founders of this nation, we cannot govern now the way we have then. Lament this to a point, sure, but pick up and move on. The world isn't going to stop moving. You might as well move with it.

[Jackeens]

29. Insecurity.

[ejpoeta]

31. i tend to think fear. fear leads to anger, anger leads to violence and violence leads to

suffering. fear is actually an underlying emotion to a lot of things. under it all i think people are afraid.

[TimesSquareCowboy]

32. Poor self-image leading to resentment.

[Towlie]

35. It's lust for power and control.

[Hellataz]

36. Fear, Hatred comes from the ignorance, But Fear is what drives them to take action

They Fear all that they know will come to an end. They fear that if anything takes hold in this country that isn't foretold in the bible then it threatens to challenge their faith an they can't have that. I live for the day that gay marriage is legal everywhere in this country and they all sit back in fear and watch as nothing changes for anyone. That the world didn't end, that the institute of marriage is the same as it ever was. That the skies are still blue and the sun still shines. They wont know what to do with themselves.

[Two Americas]

38. not at all

The politicians use fear, stir up fear in the public, yes. But the agenda is to advance the needs and desires of the wealthy few. The Republicans have very competently and rationally done that.

Conservative-backed legislation is rooted in helping the wealthy and powerful few at the expense of the rest of us - always.

The wealthy and powerful few are not peeing in their pants now or even worried.

I think you are confusing the sales job with the actual program. I think that confusing us about that is the main goal of the right wing propaganda, not rallying any base or pushing any "ideology." They are more interested in getting liberals to rise to the bait then they are in rallying the base - there isn't any base, for one thing. It is all a distraction.


...

[msallied]

39. So really, you think it's greed? Or a lust for power?

That's a very interesting perspective and one I will consider further because you could very well be right. The ones who rise to power are greedy, but they prey on the fears of their constituency.

[Two Americas]

46. neither

Politics is about power and economics, and nothing else. Greed and lust for power is an effect, not a cause. It is those who already have power and wealth and want to keep it who control our politics. They aren't lusting or greedy - they already have what they want. A climate of greed and bullying does protect their interests, though, and all throughout the society the bullies and the greedy few dominate.

No other perspective consistently explains what the Republican have been doing. If it helps the everyday person - public schools, regulation and inspection, civil rights, worker rights - they try to destroy it. If it helps the wealthiest few, they promote it.

Government and politics themselves help the every day person, and not the wealthy few, and the right wingers have been trying to destroy both of those. Does Fox news really promote a political philosophy? No. What they are doing is trying to destroy politics, by sabotaging the national political discussion, not seriously debate about politics. Do the Republicans have a different "philosophy" about running the government? No. They have been dismantling and crippling it, or failing in that, corrupting it and using it to advance the desires of the wealthy few. There are no exceptions to this - if it helps the many, they destroy it, if it helps the few they defend it - and the failure by us to clearly see the nature of the battle and where the battle lines are, and so our failure to pressure the opposition party politicians to get on those battle lines and fight back is the main cause of the recent success by the Republicans.

Things have now gotten so bad, that the people themselves have rejected Reaganomics, despite there being virtually no Left in this country to lead them to do that. If the Democrats ignore the message that the public just sent - and there is much evidence that they will - this will allow the right wingers back into the game.


...

[susanna]

40. This was an interesting link posted a few days ago. (Don't remember who first posted it, sorry.)

Anyway, the article was really interesting. Warning - it's quite long:

http://www.alternet.org/story/138303/conservatives_live_in_a_different_moral_universe_--_and_here%27s_why_it_matters?page=entire

I thought some posting on this topic might find it relevant. I am intrigued by this psychologist's research, myself. It seems to explain a few things about my own family and our political leanings (all quite different).

UTA: errant apostrophe

[msallied]

41. Fantastic! Thank you. I have bookmarked this!

[susanna]

76. You're welcome.

I actually signed up to take his first quiz, and I scored above even most liberals on the Harm and Fairness models. It really made me think! If nothing else, it gives you a glimpse into what makes all us different humans tick. I am really interested in his work now.

[ieoeja]

104. I just took the moral foundation test.

Conservative morals are founded much less in the first two categories. In those my morals have much, much less foundation in "harm" than even your typical conservative. While I have an identical foundation in "fairness" as conservatives.

In the three remaining foundations wherein liberal morals have a lower foundation than conservatives, I have the same as liberals in "loyalty" and even much less than the average liberal in "authority" and "purity".

The test would seem to indicate that I am an uncaring, amoral prick.

Well, what do you know. It worked!

My scores:
2.2 - Harm
3.0 - Fairness
2.0 - Loyalty
1.7 - Authority
0.7 - Purity

[Union Yes]

42. Greed driven lust for power and control. Fear, hate are the tools.

[Terry in Austin]

43. It may be dominance

This would account for the hierarchical and authoritarian tendencies in conservatives.

The element of dominance is part of the "PAD model" of emotions, which consists of three dimensions: pleasure/pain, arousal/indifference and dominance/submission (first described by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Mehrabian">Albert Mehrabian and James A. Russell in 1974).

Mehrabian's http://www.kaaj.com/psych/abstract/liberalabstract.html">website has an article analyzing liberals and conservatives using this model. Interesting stuff!

[northoftheborder]

44. "Conservative" denotes:

selfishness, or self-centeredness

[alwysdrunk]

45. Conservatism is rooted in fear.

Both the idealogy and the way they play out the politics. Do you think people know this? I would think that everyone knows this but prefers not to think about it.

[PufPuf23]

47. Is stupid an emotion? nt

[Kaleko]

50. No. It's a judgmental thought.

[Phx_Dem]

48. Hate/intolerance. n/t

[demwing]

49. Ignurance may lead to fear, and fear may lead to hate and greed

but ignorance is not an emotion, it is a mental state, not an emtional one.

If there is an emotion that leads to ignorance, it would have to be vanity, or self love. Those who are vain never question themselves, and thus are forever lost to ignorance. All other negative emotions spill forth from there.

[alwysdrunk]

53. What about valuing ignorance?

All the "elite" stuff? you think that gets filed under fear?

[demwing]

63. No, again under vanity

If I understand you correctly, and we're talking about that damned tendency to equate elitism with intellectualism, and to portray ignorance as a populist value. That's vanity of the lowest denominator.

[demwing]

64. Wow, what a twit I am, mistyping the word "ignorance"

how embarrassing :P

[TheKentuckian]

51. Fear with greed quickly running up the coattails

The rest of it is fueled by those two.

Willful ignorance is also a prime factor but not defined as an emotion.

[starrcat]

52. hate

and a touch of fear

[Teaser]

54. Is "stupid" an emotion?

[jillan]

56. Stupidity - I think the gop has brought new meaning to the word.

[ashling]

57. I think this is applicable

The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.

John Kenneth Galbraith

[whistler162]

58. Is ignorance? Hatred? Fear? what drives you....

because I am reading the exact same garbage from your finger tips that I see some Conservatise type!

After 8 + years of this garbage being directed at Democrats and Liberals do you really need to sink to the same low?

[NoSheep]

73. Your's is really the only hateful thing I've read in this thread.

If you think Liberals and Conservatives are 2 sides of the same coin... I think you should consider your opinion more carefully. Your reaction seems really extreme. I don't think the OP is bashing conservatives...just trying to have a discussion in a Progressive forum about where their insane behavior arises from.

[msallied]

84. I'm driven by my curiosity to find out why things are the way they are.

Simple as that, really. I'm not perfect. But I would say that I am less-governed by fear and greed than your typical right-winger.

[Butch350]

60. This is not an emotion but...TUNNEL VISION!!!!

[bettyellen]

61. resentment towards others... which leads to the dislike/ fear / hate so well ntd here

[Flying Dream Blues]

62. Bitterness. nt

[PBS Poll-435]

65. Contrarianism

:shrug:

[leftofthedial]

66. 1. greed

2. selfishness

3. ignorance

(strictly speaking, these aren't emotions)

4. irrational fear

5. hatred

6. self-loathing

[bluethruandthru]

67. Greed!

I've got mine and no one better try to take it! Or I want more and I'm entitled to more and it I don't get it, it's because of the damned (fill in the blank) foreigner/illegal immigrant/gay/liberal/ whatever!

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

68. FEAR!! Because FEAR begets HATE! n/t

[tabbycat31]

69. fear

and when there's no boogieman, it's not very successful.

[Samantha]

70. Intolerance

Conservatives are intolerant toward anything (or anyone) different than what they believe are absolutes and in that regard they become overly zealous towards eliminating it (or them).

Sam

[treestar]

74. Greed

they are never satisfied that they have enough and are deathly afraid someone else will get something for nothing.

[stillcool]

75. Fear..they like to make..

people afraid of other people, so they're too busy fighting amongst each other to catch them stuffing their pockets with cash from the tax-payer kitty.

[Canuckistanian]

77. Greed, fear and hate. The unholy triumvirate

"I got mine, those "other people" are trying to take it and they must be stopped because they are scum"

I think that one sentence just about sums it up.

[HughMoran]

78. Selfishness & fear

It's a combination of those two - I'm 100% sure of this.

[Aloha Spirit]

88. completley agree. and disdain for spelling.

[RoadRage]

79. Vengence and Jealosy.. NT

[FrenchieCat]

80. selfishness

[old mark]

81. Trinity of ignorance, fear, hatred. There is also a certain percentage

of serious mental illness.


mark

[Bobbie Jo]

82. FEAR is the basis for all negative emotion. nt

[ShadowLiberal]

83. Outrage & Fear, they use them both together

The GOP uses both fear and outrage together, just a few examples.

-The GOP wants you to fear gay marriage, and be outraged at the very thought of letting them marry each other, let alone giving them any legal recognition.

-The GOP wants you to fear for your soul if you dare to support abortions in any case, and be outraged when even rape victims have an abortion.

-The GOP wants you to fear liberals raising your taxes and fear what it'll do to the economy, as well being outraged at the very thought of paying more for taxes, even if the government is increasing spending at the same time.

And there's plenty more examples where that comes from of how fear and outrage govern the GOP and it's philosophies.

[saltpoint]

86. The impulse to punish.

They advance in the public arena generally and the political arena especially by demonizing sub-groups of the culture. To be a member of any of their prohibited sub-cultures is therefore to be anti-American.

Reagan's people made a sharp point to schedule photo ops with the Rushmore sculptures or the Statue of Liberty etc. in the background. The Contras weren't remorselessly violent thugs; they were "Freedom Fighters."

They seek to first marginalize, and then punish others who won't march in step with their music.

[Liberal_in_LA]

87. greed

[LWolf]

89. Fear, of course.

Fear is the root of hatred and greed.

[harun]

90. Greed with fear a close second.

[GreenEyedLefty]

91. "Me first - fuck everyone else."

[SeaLyons]

92. GREED....

[JerseygirlCT]

93. Fear nt

[ieoeja]

94. The headline alone made me respond: FEAR.

[jberryhill]

96. It's all about fear

Fear drives the whole thing.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

97. Self-preservation. The desire to feather one's own nest and enlarge one's own tribe

to spread one's own genes, to enlarge ones's own territory, to fight off other contenders for the same resources, etc.

It's primal.

[PassingFair]

98. There isn't just one. The Four S's ....

Any one or a combination of any of these:

Stupid
Scared
Selfish
Superstitious

[traxster]

99. Arrogance...n/t

[BklynChick]

100. fear

[WCGreen]

101. Lust for power....

Naked lust for power.

[pink-o]

102. It depends where you are on the monetary scale...

richer conservatives are motivated by greed because the System has been good to them and they don't want it to change and cut into their profit margine. Poorer conservatives are very easy to control with fear, especially if they're uneducated.

But going deeper, greed, envy, et al are all entirely based on FEAR. Fear is the key to controlling another human, or limiting oneself. Greedy people are greedy because they're afraid to live without their money and possessions. Ignorant people are afraid they don't have the capacity to learn, so they ridicule intellectualism.

Bottom line is, if we honestly could assuage every child's fear in an honest and forthright way, we wouldn't have so many reactionaries so afraid of change and their own minds!

[AngryOldDem]

103. Hate.

With a bit of paranoia mixed in.

That's why I really can't gloat about the current decline of the GOP. They're mad (as in hatter), angry, confused, and backed up against the wall. I think in a lot of ways a smaller version of the GOP is much more dangerous than what we've been putting up with all these years.

[IdaBriggs]

105. Fear. nt