Right after John Kerry\u2019s devastating loss to George W. Bush in the 2004 presidential election, Bill Clinton told the Financial Times that the Kerry campaign had failed to engage voters on \u201cvalues\u201d issues, that middle Americans saw the party as \u201ctwo-dimensional aliens.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you let people believe that your party doesn\u2019t believe in faith or family, doesn\u2019t believe in work and freedom\u2014that\u2019s our fault,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Clinton\u2019s remarks highlighted a panic that occasionally descends on the American Left\u2014one that peaked rather spectacularly after Kerry\u2019s flameout: What if there\u2019s something we simply don\u2019t get about conservatives, something that will render useless all of our best-laid plans to win them over with our clearly superior logic and understanding?<\/p>\n
In The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, University of Virginia psychologist Jonathan Haidt confirms all of the Left\u2019s biggest fears. Yes, there is something liberals simply don\u2019t get about conservatives. There are a few things, actually.<\/p>\n
The book can be seen as divided into two parts: a large, expansive exploration of the roots of our morality, how morality connects to group dynamics and evolutionary adaptations, and the many ways in which we are not as coolly rational as we\u2019d like to think we are. Then, toward the end, there is a shorter, less convincing section in which Haidt attempts to apply the book\u2019s many insights to contemporary politics and policy.<\/p>\n