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I remember this ted talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_haidt_on_the_moral_mind https://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_haidt_on_the_moral_mind It is interesti

I remember this ted talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_haidt_on_the_moral_mind https://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_haidt_on_the_moral_mind It is interesting to know that he's decided that "the Republican Party is no longer the social conservative party", and so Haidt believes that his previous research on the distinction between conservatives and progressives doesn't apply to existing Republicans. > You’ve written that Republicans understand moral psychology better than Democrats. Do you think that’s still true in the age of Donald Trump? "...what we were able to show is that conservatives can pretend to be progressives and they can accurately fill it out as though they were one. But progressives can’t pretend to be a conservative and fill it out accurately because they don’t really get the group loyalty, respect for authority, and sanctity or purity. They don’t really get those so they kind of dismiss those and they assume that conservatives just like to kill puppies and things like that. That was the case for a number of decades. Trump has shifted a lot of things around. The Republican Party is no longer the social conservative party. I believe, in other research I’ve published with Karen Stenner, a political scientist in Australia, Trump is appealing to more authoritarian tendencies. It’s very hard to see how Donald Trump is a conservative. So the psychology that I just described a moment ago no longer quite applies. The Republican Party, I don’t know what’s happening to it, but it is bringing in elements that are overtly racist. It is bringing in desires for rapid change, which is not a conservative virtue, generally. So I think we’re in a time of chaos in which both parties are in flux. What might come out is we might get ever further away from having a center-left Democratic Party and a center-right Republican Party, which is what we had for a number of decades. We might have two much more polarized or ideologically disparate parties and it could make for some very interesting politics and even less cooperation than we have now."

echlebek 8y ago
You may think you have had a center left democratic party and center right democratic party in the past, but that's not how other western nations perceive you - many would say that the democratic party is center right, and the republican party is far right. Even before Trump.
- int_19h 8y ago
  Center is defined by where the wings are, and that in turn depends on how much you're looking at. Among developed countries, US is definitely on the right. But in US politics, Democrats are on the left.
zdragnar 8y ago
This is, unfortunately, an entirely inaccurate perception of the Republican party. Historically, it has always been a "big tent" party: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_tent#United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_tent#United_States and "social conservationism" has always been divided between the religious right (who are often fiscally liberal) and the libertarian middle (who are often fiscally conservative). What's more, you appear to have fallen into the same trap you called out: > They don’t really get those so they kind of dismiss those and they assume that conservatives just like to kill puppies and things like that. > I don’t know what’s happening to it, but it is bringing in elements that are overtly racist. Those elements have always been there, in both parties (more so in the Democratic party up until recently, in fact[0]). It is only in this age of hyper-awareness of race issues that those elements have gained the intense scrutiny of the news cycle. The sad truth is, those who want to see racism will see it only where they want to, and those who do not, will not. The same applies to any other charitable or uncharitable viewing of any other motivation, and our current political situation does not allow for charitable interpretations of others' motives. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964#By_party https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964#By_pa... See also the founding of the KKK by southern Democrat whites and the targeted violence against white and black Republicans.

echlebek 8y ago

You may think you have had a center left democratic party and center right democratic party in the past, but that's not how other western nations perceive you - many would say that the democratic party is center right, and the republican party is far right. Even before Trump.

int_19h 8y ago
Center is defined by where the wings are, and that in turn depends on how much you're looking at. Among developed countries, US is definitely on the right. But in US politics, Democrats are on the left.

zdragnar 8y ago

This is, unfortunately, an entirely inaccurate perception of the Republican party. Historically, it has always been a "big tent" party: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_tent#United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_tent#United_States and "social conservationism" has always been divided between the religious right (who are often fiscally liberal) and the libertarian middle (who are often fiscally conservative). What's more, you appear to have fallen into the same trap you called out: > They don’t really get those so they kind of dismiss those and they assume that conservatives just like to kill puppies and things like that. > I don’t know what’s happening to it, but it is bringing in elements that are overtly racist. Those elements have always been there, in both parties (more so in the Democratic party up until recently, in fact[0]). It is only in this age of hyper-awareness of race issues that those elements have gained the intense scrutiny of the news cycle. The sad truth is, those who want to see racism will see it only where they want to, and those who do not, will not. The same applies to any other charitable or uncharitable viewing of any other motivation, and our current political situation does not allow for charitable interpretations of others' motives. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964#By_party https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964#By_pa... See also the founding of the KKK by southern Democrat whites and the targeted violence against white and black Republicans.