I was reading an interview with John Jost regarding political psychology over at fave read The Situationist while devouring some I Can’t Believe It’s Not Beef Boca Lasagna (on sale at your local Fine Fare for $2.99!) just now. In it Jost talks about conservatives being more resistant to change and more comfortable with inequality than progressives, and conservatives being more likely to be fear-driven than progressives. Reading this reminded me of something I’ve been thinking about for a while:
Are progressives motivated by guilt and obligation?
Which is to say this: there’s a correlation in general between higher standardized test scores and having a progressive political outlook. Peoria Pete might think, “Well, if you’re smart, you clearly know that progressive policies are the way to go!” Hmm. Having personally occupied nearly all political outlooks simultaneously, I no longer think this relationship is causal in the way that Peoria Pete does.
Having been granted the “Gifted & Talented” moniker early, it’s always been branded into my brain that possessing more than average gifts of intellectual resources comes with a concomitant obligation to give back. You’re smart, the school puts you into a special little class and/or school, and you will in turn take your natural talents and give back to society because It Is The Right Thing To Do. At the Academy, my public residential math-science magnet high school, community service is a graduation requirement. At the freshman address at Yale, President Levin reminded us that we were the leaders of tomorrow. At every step of the acculturation process for the mainstream person with above-average intelligence, we’re indoctrinated with the values of giving back to society, and the notion that our talents are not ours alone to enjoy.
Do you see where I’m going with this?
I suspect that if you’re identified as smart early on and treated as such, you’re forced to believe that the fruits of your talents aren’t really your own, and that it’s only fair that you should share your talent-fruits with the rest of the world in larger proportion than those who are less able. I suspect that this informs why smart people adopt progressive values: they have been brainwashed into thinking that this is How Things Are.
I suspect that this lifetime acculturation is why progressives are okay with wealth redistribution, with progessive taxation, with subsidizing other people who simply aren’t interested in actually bettering their own lot. Because they’ve been taught to feel a little bit guilty about the fact that they’re naturally more talented than others, and to assuage this guilt they’ll write a check in one form or another. Because they’re used to doing the work of the entire study group (if they actually divide the labor of the team project equally, it will not be of the quality of a project that they, by themselves, would have done). Having been raised on years of doing other people’s work for them, why would a progressive act out now, in Real Life?
I haven’t quite wrapped my arms around all of this but this is how the clay-lump looks at the present moment.
Signed,
Get your paws of my talent-fruits, you dirty commie
