Quote:
Originally posted by fintstone
Difference:
liberal...add a backbone and 20 points to IQ and get a conservative...add 20 more points to IQ...and get a libertarian
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I know a good number of people with high IQ's, most are very far to the left. High intelligence, as measured with standardized IQ tests, is not an indication of "common sense."
I see the liberal, conservative, and libertarian differences as a bit more complicated than Fray's (conservative slanted) explanation above.
There can be wide differences in people within each group, but generally both liberals and conservatives treat emotion as being more important than reason. Libertarians approach life with more use of logic. (Yes, there are hedonists who call themselves "libertarians," but I would argue against their assessment of themselves. The same with certain staunchly religious people calling themselves libertarian.)
Liberals and conservatives still use logic (no one could survive long without using it at all), but they use it only in limited, and different, areas of their life. Both liberals and conservatives will close their mind to reason on certain "sacred cow" issues.
Ayn Rand wrote something to the effect: "You can't reason with them, they're not open to reason" when trying to explain the frustration someone committed to rational living will experience when trying to communicate with people who will close their minds to logical argument.