I tweeted this article a few days ago, but had more to say—more than Twitter allows.
I found the article interesting, if unsurprising. And what came to mind is its political equivalent. A plurality of Americans self-describe as “conservative,” but a majority of those hold at least some progressive views. What this means is that the vast majority of Americans are centrist liberal (liberal being a centrist political philosophy), but a good many prefer the label conservative. And this makes sense, given the culture’s social principles.
Conservative rhetoric sounds masculine and no-nonsense. Oil drilling, the stock market, capitalism, the police (“law and order”), etc. One can sound macho while expressing “concern” for these topics. However, the concern exists at a distance. Caring about people, about minorities, about those in the lower income brackets, about the LGBTQ community, about the environment? This gets in too close and sounds—from the macho perspective—wimpy and whiny. It sounds “liberal.” And, in this culture, caring about people and the planet is viewed as effete. As being soft in the middle.
Yet, most Americans are concerned about the environment and support “green” legislation. Most Americans support reasonable, rational gun control. And I would argue that most Americans don’t even know what the stock market is or how it works. THE STOCK MARKET IS NOT THE ECONOMY. Exxon Mobil is doing just fine, the working class isn’t. That is because Washington DC feels the former matters and the latter does not.
So, to sound conservative is to sound masculine. But most Americans are to varying degrees progressive liberal. We know this from the Mount Everest-sized pile of public opinion data.
The poor Republican Party sings a masculine-sounding tune, but it does not speak to the public’s actual political priorities, which is why the GOP is dying. Good riddance.
I found the article interesting, if unsurprising. And what came to mind is its political equivalent. A plurality of Americans self-describe as “conservative,” but a majority of those hold at least some progressive views. What this means is that the vast majority of Americans are centrist liberal (liberal being a centrist political philosophy), but a good many prefer the label conservative. And this makes sense, given the culture’s social principles.
Conservative rhetoric sounds masculine and no-nonsense. Oil drilling, the stock market, capitalism, the police (“law and order”), etc. One can sound macho while expressing “concern” for these topics. However, the concern exists at a distance. Caring about people, about minorities, about those in the lower income brackets, about the LGBTQ community, about the environment? This gets in too close and sounds—from the macho perspective—wimpy and whiny. It sounds “liberal.” And, in this culture, caring about people and the planet is viewed as effete. As being soft in the middle.
Yet, most Americans are concerned about the environment and support “green” legislation. Most Americans support reasonable, rational gun control. And I would argue that most Americans don’t even know what the stock market is or how it works. THE STOCK MARKET IS NOT THE ECONOMY. Exxon Mobil is doing just fine, the working class isn’t. That is because Washington DC feels the former matters and the latter does not.
So, to sound conservative is to sound masculine. But most Americans are to varying degrees progressive liberal. We know this from the Mount Everest-sized pile of public opinion data.
The poor Republican Party sings a masculine-sounding tune, but it does not speak to the public’s actual political priorities, which is why the GOP is dying. Good riddance.
