Nerd Analysis: Why Are Liberals So Condescending?

Gerard Alexander, a professor of political science at the University of Virginia, has an interesting analysis. Read it all.

Here is a teaser:

... an extraordinary range of liberal writers, commentators and leaders -- from Jon Stewart's "Daily Show" to Obama's White House, with many stops in between -- have developed or articulated narratives that apply to virtually all conservatives at all times. To many liberals, this worldview may be appealing, but it severely limits our national conversation on critical policy issues. Perhaps most painfully, liberal condescension has distorted debates over American poverty for nearly two generations.

He's right.

If I can add my two cents, the truly pernicious part of this is the liberal assumption that all intelligent people will agree with their policy ideas and that if you don't, you either (a) don't understand, or (b) are evil. There seems to be little or no room for even grasping the concept that I can both understand their policy ideas and DISAGREE because I don't believe they are in the best interest of the country.

(Oh, all right, I actually do happen to BE evil -- just ask any lazy undergrad who's been on the receiving end of my gradebook -- but that's not the point nor is that the reason for my policy beliefs.)