Why Does The Left think the Right is Evil?

This is something I don't get. Right-leaning folks assume that left-leaning folks have good motives but are misguided in their approach, whereas left-leaning folks assume that right-leaning folks have evil motives.

Of course, I do not mean this in the absolute. There are folks whose views are hard to categorize, and what I said is not universally true in that there are many exceptions (and you may well be one of them), but this is a trend I certainly see.

Many commenters on my blog question my motivations when I put forward a right-leaning view. For example:

• If we disagree on climate change I am accused of profiting from big oil status quo and wishing death and destruction on future people.
• If we disagree on universal health care I am accused of wanting to salvage my tax dollars at the expense of poor people dying in the streets.
• If we disagree on policing I am accused of being a racist and wanting to promote the white race at the expense of people of colour.
• If we disagree on COVID response I am accused of wishing the convenience of going out and being maskless at the expense of millions dying a horrible death.
• If we disagree on abortion I am accused of wanting to enslave all women as Handsmaid's Tale type baby factories to promote the white race.
  

These even come through on otherwise very reasonable people I debate with (you know who you are!).

On the other hand, I assume that the people arguing with me have big hearts and want the right things, but are just not thinking through all the consequences of the policies they advocate such as,

• banning or heavily taxing fossil fuels,
• defunding the police,
• instituting affirmative action,
• expanding hate speech laws,
• forcing vaccine mandates,
• banning private firearms ownership,
• allowing abortion even to the moment of birth,
  
• central planning and distribution of all health care,
  
• massive government spending,
• and so on...

I assume their hearts are in the right place, but I am concerned their policies will not achieve their ends, or the downsides will materially outweigh the upsides. But I don't ascribe evil motivations to them (although I do predict evil consequences in some cases).

First of all, though, what do I mean by a "left-leaning" versus a "right-leaning" person?  It's a bit of a data science type question. You develop a bunch of questions around perceived political issues, and there appears to emerge two clusters of people who answer more or less the same on these issues, but with opposite answers. One of these clusters you label "left", and the other "right". At the same time, there are many outliers who do not fit neatly into one cluster or the other; and there are people who clearly belong in one of the clusters, but have a handful of views that fall into the other.

From Left vs. Right-Wing: It's Complicated

So of course it's messy, but you likely know where you fall, and it's often reflected in your vote. Those who vote Liberal, NDP, or Green in Canada, or Democrat in the US, tend to belong to the left cluster. Those who vote Progressive Conservative or PPC in Canada, or Republican in the US, tend to belong to the right cluster. It is because these clusters naturally exist, on a variety of issues, that these parties form to represent them.

 

Social scientists have asked if there are more fundamental personality factors that push you more to the left or the right cluster. There's an interesting paper on this from 2011 I recently came across that prompted this blog post: The Big Five Personality Traits in the Political Arena from Yale University.

The "Big Five" personality traits emerged from research going back to 1949 that demonstrates there are five core personality traits that stay with you and influence your choices. It's by now well established in Social Science circles. Similar to how I defined left vs right above, Big Five researchers ask hundreds of questions on a diverse set of topics, and when they analyze the data people tend to fall into classifications along five dimensions.

from What Are The Big Five Dimensions of Personality

The Political Arena paper I referenced surveys the literature done up to that time. You can read it if you like, but the summary is as follows:

• High Openness is associated with being on the left
  "Openness to Experience is associated with positive responses to novel stimuli. Thus, researchers posit that individuals high on this trait are more likely to respond favorably to liberal social policies, which often involve acceptance of unconventional behaviors, and liberal economic policies, which may involve a willingness to support proposals that entail new government involvement in the economy."
• High Conscientiousness is associated with being on the right
  "Individuals high on Conscientiousness tend to be attracted to social norms and achievement striving. These response tendencies likely explain why those high on this trait are more likely to reject the challenges to social norms that often accompany liberal social policies, as well as liberal economic policies, which may be seen as undermining incentives for individual effort."
• High Emotional Stability (opposite of Neuroticism) is associated with being on the right
  "People who score high on Emotional Stability are less likely to feel anxious about their economic futures, they respond less favorably to redistributive policies intended to strengthen broad economic security."

In other words, the flaky artsy neurotic types tend to lean left; and the solid, fact-based, conscientious, calm and collected types tend to lean right. Hey, don't blame me, it's the science! 😉

At any rate, my main message to you left-leaners in this Christmas Season is that if you have right-leaning family, friends and acquaintances, don't start off by ascribing bad motives to their views. They likely are just as selfish and unselfish as those on the left, and value everybody being happy, healthy, wealthy, and fulfilled just the same, man or woman, and all races the same. They just think the policies they support are a better way of getting there, and you likely disagree with that, and that's ok.