I'm pretty damn liberal, and my IQ falls right around 160.
My "IQ" is high, as well; and it was, no doubt, higher when I was 23 than it is today. But it is important to understand that the very concept of IQ totally ignores life experience. Was I was 23, I was extremely liberal -- as in "McGovern".
As people grow older, those who are fairly bright tend toward conservatism because they come to understand that liberalism doesn't work. The idea, for example, that a government run health program could be good evaporates into a sea of experience in dealing with government. The idea that capital punishment should not be used is obliterated by the understanding that some people are so evil they just need to be dead.
Most importantly, over time you come to understand that liberalism, like a gas, expands to fill the volume of its container, suffocating the very life out everything in its path.
Now, you may ask, "Then, why are there old liberals"? My answer is, "those are the liberals whose 'IQ' didn't permit them to learn these things as they grew older".
When I was 22 and my roommate was a 36-year old conservative, I simply could not understand his perspective. One of my favorites was, "I can't support capital punishment unless I would be willing to pull the switch myself". He would always say, "Don't sweat it; I'll be glad to pull the switch any time...."
Today, when I see a David Westerfield, I realize that it would be sheer joy for me to be able to pull the switch on him. |
