Why I Turned Right

Maybe it's the cold weather, but I have been reading a lot lately. Why I Turned Right is out, a collection of essays from notable Boomer conservatives.

Haven't read it yet, but will, since I started out on the Left as well, or maybe I just thought I was a leftist. Good take by Charlotte Hays at IWF, with this quote from Dr. Sally Satel:

"My Hill experience gave me a startling insight: Liberals and conservatives seemed to have mirror-image approaches to paternalism. Liberals made intrusive laws for the competent while conservatives preferred to rely on individuals to make their own decisions. Conversely, conservatives preferred intrusive laws for the incompetent to whom liberals applied a hands-off policy. Liberals were comfortable with public health paternalism: intrusive nonsmoking laws, taxes on unhealthy products, strict risk-averse EPA and FDA regulations. . . .Yet, when a person was incoherent, defecating in the streets, or freezing a limb off in the part, then -- and only then -- did the principles of autonomy apply."

Compassion turned on its head.

This book sounds like a cautionary tale for Democrats, who I imagine now that they are in power in Congress again will turn more than a few people off from their politics.


Related posts: The McGoverning Dems, Another Extremist Ideologue, Talk Left, Act Right