Book Review : Politics
Liberal Hearts and Conservative Brains: The Correlation between Age and Political Philosophy
Ron Lipsman
The quote, "If you are young and not liberal, then you have no heart; but if you are old and not conservative, then you have no brain," is most often attributed to Disraeli or to Churchill. In this book, we shall examine the worthiness of that assessment of the correlation between age and political philosophy as it applies to the people of the United States in the first decade of the 21st century. First of all, is it reasonable to expect the imagination and political passions of America's youth to be fired by the ideas and axioms of modern liberalism, and is it equally reasonable to expect the middle aged and elderly population to adhere to the more conservative tenets of political thought? If so, does the reality match the expectation? Do most people complete a journey, as they advance in years and accumulate experiences, from the left end of the political spectrum to the right side of that spectrum? In fact, I have made the journey myself — from a classic, dyed-in-the-wool, liberal in my teens and 20s to a rock-hard conservative in middle age, and now senior citizen status. Am I typical? If not, why not?
These are the questions that I shall explore in this book. In order to do so, we need to describe clearly the distinct ground that is occupied by liberals and conservatives at this point in American history. I accomplish that through four vehicles: a lively discussion of 24 touchstone issues that separate liberal and conservative opinion; the development of a half dozen novel definitions of liberalism and conservatism, each anchored in a different aspect of human endeavor; the formulation of several world views that distinguish the viewpoints of liberals and conservatives; and finally the identification of several mental frameworks or personality traits that characterize liberal and conservative approaches to political topics. This allows me to highlight the stark differences that exist between liberals and conservatives today, a situation I refer to as the liberal/conservative divide. - Ron Lipsman
Buy This Book
iUniverse, Inc.; www.iuniverse.com; 294 page paperback; $20.95 (September 2007)
ISBN: 0595463207
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