Conservatives simply work harder

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MAKERS AND TAKERS

By Peter Schweizer

Doubleday, $27.95, 258 pages

REVIEWED BY LARRY THORNBERRY

Liberals and conservatives are different, and it's not just about different policies. The mythology of

mean, greedy conservatives versus generous, altruistic liberals, a mythology retailed by liberals, has no basis in fact. The evidence shows almost the exact reverse to be true more often than not. Peter Schweizer gives us that evidence in detail in "Makers and Takers."

Mr. Schweizer's conclusions - that conservatives on average work harder, are happier, lead closer family lives, are more honest, give more to charity, are more open-minded, less self-centered, less prone to anger and rage and whine a good deal less than liberals - are not what you've been hearing on television, reading in your daily newspaper or what your kids have been hearing from their professor in class.

It has been the claim of liberals for decades that not only are they (liberals) sensitive, selfless, intelligent and all around superior human beings with only the best interests of the world and its inhabitants foremost in mind, but that conservatives are materialistic meanies who care only for themselves and are not very bright into the bargain.

These claims, which are consistent with the world view of most in the mainstream media, as well as in academe and among the literati, have gotten a lot of play. There have been faux studies hatched at some of our tonier universities - Stanford, Berkeley, Harvard, et al - claiming to demonstrate that conservatives are emotionally limited people, intellectually stunted and uncurious, rigid, prone to violence and afraid of change. Some have even tried to claim that conservatism is a form of mental illness.

Most everyone reading this review has heard or read these claims. Most have seen the Hollywood movies portraying grasping, dysfunctional conservatives and brilliant, well-adjusted liberals who are so good it almost gives you a sugar high to watch them (See Robert Redford in almost anything after Sundance).