Thursday

A TDE reader sends along this email:

"I sent my brother that Talib quote: 'Never listen to a leftist who does not give away his fortune or does not live the exact lifestyle he wants others to follow.'

"He used it with co-workers, a flurry of emails followed (e.g., "What about conservatives with 'family values', they don't follow those," etc.)."

I figured it was worth a response, which is pasted below.

Well, for what it's worth, I don't trust conservatives who don't follow their own family values either.

Talib's analysis, if I recall correctly, was directed specifically to the monetary phenomenon of having "skin in the game." If I had to guess, his quote was especially directed at Al Gore and Hollywood stars and their environmentalism. They espouse an environmentalism that imposes drastic economic costs on everyone else, but then conduct their personal economic affairs in an opposite manner.

There are parallels to the philandering family-values politician, sure, but they're not economic ones. A maritally-unfaithful conservative can push for fewer divorces without imposing economic costs on everyone. A fornicating Republican that doesn't use effective birth control can push to end abortion but still rightly consider abortion murder.

You also have to look at the respective programs of the "right" and "left." The liberal proposes huge social programs that can't be ratcheted back down, which impose a permanent (or nearly permanent) economic cost on the country. The conservative merely proposes to continue with a form of morality that has been in existence for over 2,000 years. There's a huge difference.

There are parallels, yes, but I think they're dwarfed by the differences.