PRESTOPUNDIT

There are practical reasons to suspect that conservatives are more used to wrestling with lefty ideas than lefties are used to wrestling with conservative ideas. The editorial end of the media biz is heavily leftish .. and the media are nearly all-pervasive these days. Thus, someone living in Oklahoma is exposed to the leftish p-o-v, and takes its existence for granted; while the professional who makes the media may never have encountered the p-o-v that the person in Oklahoma represents. The academic thing is important too. I went to fancy schools and got a thorough brainwashing in leftish thought, which I was led to believe was the only Real Thought There Is. It took me years to discover that such a thing as Rightie Thought even existed. Most of my many leftish media and arts friends, with backgrounds similar to mine, are completely unaware that a respectable tradition of Rightie Thought exists, and the bits of it they are aware of (Adam Smith, maybe) they've certainly never looked at in the flesh. As far as I can tell, this material (Oakeashott, Burke, Hayek, many others) is actively kept from young minds. So my media/arty friends, when confronted with evidence of actual Respectable Rightie Arguments, simply sputter in exasperation and amazement. They literally cannot believe anyone would venture such an argument. My (rather few, alas) Rightie friends, though, are all perfectly familiar with Leftie Thought -- partly because they had to make their way through it in order to find their way to the Rightie Thought that suited them better.