RightWingers And Souces

By Cernig

Over in the UK, conservative tabloid The Daily Mail has an op-ed by rightwing Hoover Institution fellow Peter Schweizer which purports to prove that Rightwingers are nicer:

There is plenty of data that shows that Right-wingers are happier, more generous to charities, less likely to commit suicide - and even hug their children more than those on the Left.

In my experience, they are also more honest, friendly and well-adjusted.

Much of this springs from the destructive influence of modern liberal ideas.

In the Sixties, we saw the beginning of a narcissism and self-absorption that gripped the Left and has not let go.

The full-scale embrace of the importance of self-awareness, self-discovery and being 'true' to oneself, along with the idea that the State should care for the less fortunate, has created a swathe of Left-wing people who want to outsource their obligations to others.

The statistics I base this on come from the General Social Survey, America's premier social research database, but they are just as relevant to the UK, as I believe political belief systems drive one's attitudes, regardless of where you happen to live.

He then quotes some statistics he has culled from careful parsing of NORC's General Social Survey - - but the source material he is supposedly quoting doesn't back him up.

This from the 2006 General Social Survey (PDF), page 11:

"Finally, we examined the hypothesis that those who were empathic and altruistic would also be liberal on social-welfare policies (Table 6I). In general these expectations were supported. Empathy was higher among those backing more government spending for health care, Blacks, children, social security, and
welfare/the poor. It was also higher among those for more government efforts to help the elderly, the poor, the sick, and Blacks, for reducing inequality in wealth, and for more government action in general...Empathy is higher among those for increased social-welfare spending and for expanded governmental programs for the disadvantaged."

Swietzer also cites as a source the World Values Survey - which doesn't break down responses by political affiliation. Swietzer infers that status from religion, religiousness, income etc. but that's his subjective input and thus has no real statistical value. In other words, he's a typical rightwing hack spinning the figures to fix the facts around a pre-determined agenda. Of course, he has a new book to push - one with the exhausting title of �Makers and Takers: Why Conservatives Work Harder, Feel Happier, Have Closer Families, Take Fewer Drugs, Give More Generously, Value Honesty More, Are Less Materialistic and Envious, Whine Less ... And Even Hug Their Children More Than Liberals�. Do you think he protesteth too much?

But have you noticed how it's always the extreme right coming up with these op-eds and pushing their findings from selective readings of polls in search of a nicer, more compassionate conservativism? Being caught and exposed as the sociopaths many of them are must really worry them.