The 6 Visceralities of American Conservatism

1. Political correctness.
2. The ‘Mommy State,’ the perception that some people are wrongly given assistance.
3. Government overreach, trivially represented by things like protecting obscure endangered species, but the only thing that matters is global warming.
4. Hatred of the other. ‘Animus’ is the word for this most deep-seated of animal instincts.
5. Extra Credit: guns, abortion, the Confederacy.

Yeh, that’s a list of beliefs worth defecating on one of civilization’s greatest creations. Sheesh.

Those who feel these things in their gut — viscerally — are not gonna be swayed by a word I say. Those who are on the other side merely need to understand that this is the list that makes us Americans exactly like Sunnis and Shiites. We might as well be arguing about a fifteen-hundred-year-old religious schism over one imam or another. Make no mistake, this is battleground. It’s not politics or politicians; it’s in the gut.

The extra credit items are tricky because not everyone on that side necessarily holds those positions.