Moral Matrix ~ Libs vs Cons Outlook Differences...

Jon Miltimore in FEE writes about social psychologist Jonathan Haidt's attempts to understand and explain human morality and, in particular...

"...the five primary categories that serve as our moral foundation:

1. Care/harm ~ an ability to feel (and dislike) the pain of others; underlies virtues of kindness, gentleness, and nurturance. 
2. Fairness/reciprocity ~ the evolutionary process of reciprocal altruism; generates ideas of justice, rights, and autonomy. 
3. Loyalty/betrayal ~ ability to form shifting coalitions; underlies virtues of patriotism and self-sacrifice for the group.
4. Authority/subversion ~ hierarchical social interactions; underlies virtues of leadership and followership, legitimate authority and traditions. 
5. Sanctity/degradation ~ psychology of disgust and contamination; underlies religious notions of striving to live in an elevated, less carnal, more noble way."

"What Haidt found is that both conservatives and liberals recognize the Harm/Care and Fairness/Reciprocity values. Liberal-minded people, however, tend to reject the three remaining foundational values -- Loyalty/betrayal, Authority/subversion, and Sanctity/degradation -- while conservatives accept them. It’s an extraordinary difference, and it helps explain why many liberals and conservatives in America think “the other side” is bonkers."

Independence Day ~ US Declaration of Secession

Thanks to FEE's David D'Amato for reminding us that July 4th...

"Independence Day, presents an opportunity to reflect upon the principles immortalized in the Declaration -- principles that, if taken seriously, hold the seeds of sweeping political transformation. The declaration is not only radically libertarian, but radically decentralist."