by Doctor Science
Kevin Drum at Mother Jones discusses something I’ve been wondering about for a while: the number of conservative American political grifters. Drum asks,
why is this problem so much bigger on the right than on the left? I won’t be happy with answers that simply assume liberals are innately better people. Even if they are, they aren’t that much better. It’s got to be something institutional, or something inherent in the nature of American conservatism. But what?
I think there are two factors at play:
- “Demand side”: Conservatives are more elderly, more fearful, and more loyal than liberals, which makes them naturally more vulnerable to scams, especially affinity scams.
- “Supply side”: Conservatives believe very strongly in capitalism and in making money, so conservative political operatives are much more likely than liberals to feel they deserve to make a lot of money for their political work. They expect to do well by doing (conservative political) good.