The Independent Whig
Individual and Society
How To Better Articulate Conservatism (and Liberalism too)
As he began his tenure as president of The Heritage Foundation Jim DeMint said that “Conservatives need to better articulate their message if they are to prevail in the war of ideas.” (1) In The Washington Post he wrote, “Conservative policies have proved their worth time and time again. If we’re not communicating in a … Continue reading
Liberal and Conservative – Individual and Community
It follows from the liberal employment of primarily, the foundation of harm/care, and less so, fairness/cheating, and liberty/oppression, that liberals tend to be concerned almost exclusively with the individual. In “Liberals and Conservatives Rely on Different Sets of Moral Foundations” (1) Haidt describes the harm/care and fairness/cheating foundations to be at the core of liberalism, … Continue reading
The Bees and the Hive: Liberal and Conservative Perceptions of Human Nature
The liberal vision employs only the moral color receptors cognitive tools of care/harm, fairness/cheating, and liberty/oppression. These are the Big E of the moral visual acuity chart. They, and the Liberal vision, are focused almost entirely on the individual; the bee in the hive of society. The moral intuitions of loyalty/betrayal, authority/subversion, sanctity/degradation, are the … Continue reading
Themes Overview
Several themes, observations, about the differences between liberals and conservatives, and liberalism and conservatism, run throughout The Independent Whig. The links in the “Themes” sidebar menu take the reader to the posts which reflect the themes.
About The Independent Whig
NOTE: This post shows the About page as it originally appered. The About page will be updated occasionally as this blog develops and matures. Introduction: This blog takes its name from a series of essays written in 1720 by John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon, whose later work was serialized in The London Journal, and then … Continue reading
I Support Viewpoint Diversity
A politically diverse group of social scientists, natural scientists, humanists, and other scholars who want to improve our academic disciplines and universities. We share a concern about a growing problem: the loss or lack of “viewpoint diversity.” When nearly everyone in a field shares the same political orientation, certain ideas become orthodoxy, dissent is discouraged, and errors can go unchallenged.
Venn Diagram of Liberal and Conservative Traits and Moral Foundations and
The Independent Whig 