What I find uber-interesting is that most if not all of my liberal acquaintances lead very conservative personal or family lives, almost indistinguishable from mine.
They work, act responsibly, pay the bills, don’t do drugs, have good manners, are law abiding, want they’re kids to get a good education...
Yet when it comes to “public policies” and who they vote for, they are lenient on druggies, criminals, lazy bums, forgiving of irresponsible behavior, and so on.
I haven’t been able to figure out that dichotomy... but I have some ideas.
Do you see the same thing, and do you have any explanations for it?
I think a lot of it my family from Massachusetts is peer pressure. Irish Catholics always voted Democrat and loved the Kennedys, so later generations need to follow the same path — hate the same people that other people hate.
They internalize what they hear from their peers.
My mother was a saint, but she never understood why my Dad broke the cycle and voted for Reagan.
But my Dad was a real estate agent — had his own one-man business — so maybe he learned his had to adhere reality to obey the facts of how the economy works.
I remember him telling me how politicians create “programs” that never end. He also fought in World War 2, so he had a much broader perspective about what America was about — and how it worked.