SCIENTIFIC STUDY: MANY LEFTIST PARTISANS AREN'T REALLY AS LEFT-WING AS THEY THINK: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS SCOOPS HOT AIR AND SCIENCE DAILY BY 3 DAYS

HOT AIR TODAY: New study: Many highly educated people mistakenly believe they’re left-wing

The study suggests that some people may end up voting for left of centre parties because they hold the mistaken belief that they are left wing…

“The most startling result is that the more educated tend to believe that they are more left-wing than they are measured as being,” said Dr Rockey. “That is, well-educated individuals are more likely to think that they are quite left-wing but actually believe things that compared to the rest of the population would make them comparatively right-wing.

SCIENCE DAILY:

"It is clear is that, for whatever reason, an individual's conception of their ideological position often differs from that predicted by a policy question.

"Many of these results merit further investigation. Perhaps the most interesting question would be to consider why men and women see things so differently.

"The broad conclusion of the paper must be that individuals either choose not to, or are unable to, locate their ideological positions reliably compared to those of the positions of their compatriots.

"This is further evidence not just that voters are far from fully informed, but that somehow voters consistently misperceive where they lie on the ideological spectrum."

THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS 3 DAYS AGO:

MY LUNCH WITH FIDEL

A very liberal acquaintance of mine went to see a movie praising Fidel the other day. He dug it.

This lib is the kind of person who is still saying Bush "STOLE" the election, but somehow forgives Fidel and Raul for not even having one once in the last 60 years.

But deep down this lib has some decent American values - values which run counter to the leftist dogma he so doggedly follows. He forgives Fidel because his partisan comrades do, not because he has fully thought it out.

So I figgered I'd use the chasm between his values and the party line to open his eyes.

Here's what I said to him:

I said.... what if me and him and his richy-rich buddy went to lunch one day at his favorite restaurant. Me - being poor - ordered pasta for $30; he ordered osso bucco for $50, and his rich pal ordered truffles and foie gras and veal chops for $100. TOTAL: $180.

It was delicious.

The bill comes; we each fork up what we owe on what we each ordered.

A few minutes later the maitre'd returns; he says that because we were their 1,000,000 table served we're gonna get 50% off our bill and he puts $90 bucks on the table.

So... I asked my lib friend, what's the FAIREST most JUST way to distribute the $90? Should we split it evenly and each get $30? Or should we each get 50% off of what we each put in?

My lib friend said - without hesitation: we should each get back half of what we each put in: me $15; him $25 and his rich pal $50.

I then told him he just endorsed the Bush tax cuts.

He turned pale and his jaw dropped.

On a deep level, he realized that all the crap he'd heard and repeated FOR YEARS about the Bush Tax Cuts was total bullshit. The Bush Tax Cuts were indeed fair; they were not a tax break for the rich; everyone got back the same percentage of what they put in.

I told him he was a neocon at heart!

I then rubbed it in a little: I told him if he voted his values and not his party them he'd vote GOP sometimes.

I told him he should use his own values to figger out where he stood on any given issue and not wait to see what the editors of the NYTIMES said or columnists at THE NATION.

Many people on the left are the same way: they're on the left now because that's where they've been for decades; it's the circle they travel in and the papers they read, the TV shows and movies they see.

What we need to do to OPEN THEIR EYES is show them that leftist policies do not reflect most of the values they hold dear, nor do they achieve the social goals they've long hoped for.

I INTUITIVELY DISCOVERED WHAT THIS STUDY REVEALED - AND I DISCOVERED IT BEFORE THEY STUDIED IT.

AND I SHARED IT WITH YOU ALL.

IN PART, I DISCOVERED IT BECAUSE I WAS ONCE A LEFTY AND BECAUSE I HAVE INTROSPECTIVELY ANALYZED MY JOURNEY.

MY CONCLUSION IS THAT MY VALUES HAVE JOT CHANGED; I HAVE JUST DISCOVERED POLICIES WHICH BETTER REFLECT THEM AND BETTER ACHIEVE MY LONG HELD GOALS FOR HUMANITY.

I HAVE DEPROGRAMMED A FEW LEFTISTS USING THIS METHOD - BY SHOWING THEM HOW THE PARTY THE SUPPORT AND POSTMODERN LIBERALISM DON'T REALLY RELFECT THEIR DEEPLY HELD VALUES.

WE ALL SHOULD DEPROGRAM AS MANY AS WE CAN.

A LOT'S AT STAKE.

ADDENDUM: I THINK DENNIS PRAGER'S QUIZ IS A VERY VERY VERY VERY EFFECTIVE TOOL.

USE IT!