Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Most arrogant paragraph, this week edition

Source: http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2010/11/not_who_you_thi.html
Here in the United States, one thing that strikes me about my most liberal friends is how conservative their thinking is at a personal level. For their own children, and in talking about specific other people, they passionately stress individual responsibility. It is only when discussing public policy that they favor collectivism. The tension between their personal views and their political opinions is fascinating to observe. I would not be surprised to find that my friends' attachment to liberal politics is tenuous, and that some major event could cause a rapid, widespread shift toward a more conservative position.

My only response:
Here in the United States, one thing that strikes me about my most conservative friends is how liberal their thinking is at a personal level. For their own children, and in talking about specific other people, they passionately stress generosity. It is only when discussing public policy that they favor individualism. The tension between their personal views and their political opinions is fascinating to observe. I would not be surprised to find that my friends' attachment to conservative politics is tenuous, and that some major event could cause a rapid, widespread shift toward a more liberal position.