Study: People become more liberal as they age

March 11, 2008
Study: People become more liberal as they age

"And what we found was that the changes that the stereotypical older person is presumed to make, if any, towards increased conservatism were not true for the majority of the items that we looked at," Prof. Danigelis said.

For example, on gender equality in politics, older people became more liberal over time.

Brain function of liberals, conservatives differ

September 9, 2007
Brain function of liberals, conservatives differ

PARIS (AFP) - The brain neurons of liberals and conservatives fire differently when confronted with tough choices, suggesting that some political divides may be hard-wired, according a study released Sunday.

Conservatives tend to crave order and structure in their lives, and are more consistent in the way they make decisions. Liberals, by contrast, show a higher tolerance for ambiguity and complexity, and adapt more easily to unexpected circumstances.

Is America turning left?

August 9, 2007
Is America turning left?

The easy scapegoat is Mr Bush himself. During his presidency, the words Katrina, Rumsfeld, Abramoff, Guantánamo and Libby have become shorthand for incompetence, cronyism or extremism. Indeed, the failings of Mr Bush's coterie are oddly reassuring for some conservatives: once he has gone, they can regroup, as they did after his father was ousted in 1992.

Yet this President Bush is not a good scapegoat. Rather than betraying the right, he has given it virtually everything it craved, from humongous tax cuts to conservative judges. Many of the worst errors were championed by conservative constituencies. Some of the arrogance in foreign policy stems from the armchair warriors of neoconservatism; the ill-fated attempt to "save" the life of the severely brain-damaged Terri Schiavo was driven by the Christian right. Even Mr Bush's apparently oxymoronic trust in "big-government conservatism" is shared in practice by most Republicans in Congress.

America Isn't Conservative

August 20, 2007
America Isn't Conservative

"Having recaptured Congress last year, the Democrats are on course to retake the presidency in
2008," says the venerable British weekly, which blames the destruction of the vaunted Republican
machine on the ideological excess and breathtaking incompetence of the Bush administration, as
well as the sleaziness of the G.O.P. leadership in Congress.

The editorial warns fellow conservatives against claiming that George W. Bush failed to fulfill
their agenda. The president is a lame duck but not a good scapegoat, because "rather than
betraying the right, he has given it virtually everything it craved, from humongous tax cuts to
conservative judges." The worst political errors of the Bush regime, from its ruinous war in Iraq
to the awful Terri Schiavo intervention, sprang directly from the brilliant minds of the religious
right and the neoconservatives.

Conservatives want slogans. Liberals Read Books

August 21, 2007
Conservatives want slogans. Liberals Read Books

WASHINGTON (AP) — Liberals read more books than conservatives. The head of the book publishing industry's trade group says she knows why — and there's little flattering about conservative readers in her explanation.

"The Karl Roves of the world have built a generation that just wants a couple slogans: 'No, don't raise my taxes, no new taxes,"' Pat Schroeder, president of the American Association of Publishers, said in a recent interview. "It's pretty hard to write a book saying, 'No new taxes, no new taxes, no new taxes' on every page."

'The Left' Moves Front and Center

June 22, 2007
'The Left' Moves Front and Center

Whenever you use the word "left" in American politics, you feel almost compelled to add quotation marks. Today's left is not talking about nationalizing industry, abolishing capitalism or destroying the rich. What passes for "left" in American politics is quite moderate by historical standards

Still, cliches die hard, so you hear such 20-year-old questions as: "Are Democrats moving too far to the left?" or "Will Democrats abandon the center?"

This approach is about abstractions, not concrete political problems, and it misses the dynamic in American public life, which is the move away from the right and a discrediting of the conservative era. The political "center" of today is not where the "center" was even five years ago.