Liberal Hearts and Conservative Brains

Book excerpt: "Talk radio hosts seem to believe conservatives are from Mars and liberals are from Venus-two different species, in other words. Ron Lipsman's new book uses a mix of rational analysis and personal history to suggest there may be deeper psychological laws at work here that help shape our worldviews. He's on to something " -Elias Crim, Publishing Consultant. Professor Lipsman argues for a correlation between age and political philosophy, which asserts that young people tend to gravitate toward liberalism while older people are usually more comfortable with conservatism; and that, additionally, among the people who change their political preference over time, more go from liberal to conservative than vice versa; and finally, he assesses the strengths of these trends; examines the most interesting counter-examples to these trends--namely, premature conservatives and aging liberals-and explains what motivates them; presents a history of the liberal/conservative divide in America and then augments it with an assessment of its current status as well as a prediction of its future; "An insightful and witty examination of the values and beliefs that divide liberals and conservatives in America today. A penetrating look at the concept of the 'aging liberal', especially as it pertains to the Jewish and academic communities." -Bruce Bartlett, nationally syndicated columnist