For decades research has suggested that political orientation may be linked to our personality styles. Recently published material out of NYU and UCLA reinforces previous data, strongly suggesting that liberals are more flexible in their thinking than conservatives. You must be thinking, “tell me something I don’t already know!” You can read the LA Times article by science writer Denise Gellene on the study here.

Some researchers, and a lot of conservatives, say it would be a mistake to conclude that one political orientation was better than another. They maintain that the tendency of conservatives to block distracting information could be a good thing depending on the situation. Positions on specific issues are influenced by many factors, they note. I wonder how they define “distracting information?” It appears as though anything scientific that counters religious beliefs, interferes with the wealthy making more money, or any part of history that they don’t like, becomes distracting!

Now that science has provided a method to the madness that is the brain of a conservative, how can we exploit it (and here’s the important part) for the better of society? It appears as though fear is a trigger for most conservative thinkers. The good news is that there is a lot of bad news for us to preach! If we give up on trying to convince them with those silly things called “facts” we may have a chance. Right now some dirty words are “taxes, big government, welfare, obamacare!” To most liberals these words translate into safeguards against poverty, corporate greed, unexpected life circumstances, and most importantly, the certainties of life like, um, old age (if we’re lucky), and death (whether we’re lucky or not).

These recent findings are at the same time both scary and a relief. I have often gone to battle in my own mind as to why people ignore science, history and the suffering of others for their own self interest. Knowing that is how their minds work, a chemical imbalance of sorts, provides me with an explanation that I can wrap my own chemically imbalanced mind around! Unfortunately, even with a map, we are bound to get lost! We are up against a very, very rich minority. Even with science, history and ethics on our side we will be encountering an even bigger enemy than big government! Money buys small minds, but it takes big ideas to fill an open mind! Like most revolutions, we have numbers on our side, not in the form of dollar signs, but in the form of PEOPLE! There are more poor and middle class than there are rich people. Click here for some great statistics on social, political, economic and environmental issues that affect us all.

Why is the possibility of becoming wealthy and then not having to give some of it away to the pool of money for the benefit of society a stronger motivator than the idea that we have no poor, no sick without healthcare, and fair wages for workers? Fear. Could the mere possibility of wealth be more powerful than actual existence of ghettos in the richest country in the world? That having no tax cuts for the wealthy be more important than children actually going hungry in the US? Fear.

Knowing that fear is the culprit, LET'S SCARE THEM!
- They could be one illness away from losing everything.
- One lost job away from not feeding their children.
- One retirement away from living in poverty in their old age after having worked their entire lives.
Meanwhile, corporations are giving bonuses to the executives of companies that took American jobs to other countries, with workers who have more in common with us than we acknowledge. Our government is spending more money on our military, and NOT in pay to those doing the dirty work, but to weapons manufacturers. Fear. It didn’t take a strong, rich military to bring the US to its knees on 9/11. It took terror! Fear. Let’s fight fire, with fire! Fight fear with fear. After all, its not like we have to lie, like some so-called “news” organizations do. We have the monsters we need. The only difference is that these monsters aren’t just shadows in the closet. These monster actually exist!

So it is estimated that social security will run out in 2036. Does this frightening number automatically mean we must give up on social responsibility? Not even close. That number should actually mean the opposite. That we need to rethink our social policies, and domestic responsibilities. We need to create jobs in America, not in China, Mexico, or India where human rights don’t exist. After all, just because someone will, or has to, work for pennies doesn’t make it ok to pay them unfair wages!