Makers and Takers: How Conservatives Do All the Work While Liberals Whine and Complain
Jun 2008 · Sold by Doubleday
3.7star
17 reviews
Ebook
272
Pages
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About this ebook
In Makers and Takers you will discover why:
* Seventy-one percent of conservatives say you have an obligation to care for a seriously injured spouse or parent versus less than half (46 percent) of liberals.
* Conservatives have a better work ethic and are much less likely to call in sick than their liberal counterparts.
* Liberals are 2½ times more likely to be resentful of others’ success and 50 percent more likely to be jealous of other people’s good luck.
* Liberals are 2 times more likely to say it is okay to cheat the government out of welfare money you don’t deserve.
* Conservatives are more likely than liberals to hug their children and “significantly more likely” to display positive nurturing emotions.
* Liberals are less trusting of family members and much less likely to stay in touch with their parents.
* Do you get satisfaction from putting someone else’s happiness ahead of your own? Fifty-five percent of conservatives said yes versus only 20 percent of liberals.
* Rush Limbaugh, Ronald Reagan, Bill O’Reilly and Dick Cheney have given large sums of money to people in need, while Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, Michael Moore, and Al Gore have not.
* Those who are “very liberal” are 3 times more likely than conservatives to throw things when they get angry.
The American left prides itself on being superior to conservatives: more generous, less materialistic, more tolerant, more intellectual, and more selfless. For years scholars have constructed—and the media has pushed—elaborate theories designed to demonstrate that conservatives suffer from a host of personality defects and character flaws. According to these supposedly unbiased studies, conservatives are mean-spirited, greedy, selfish malcontents with authoritarian tendencies. Far from the belief of a few cranks, prominent liberals from John Kenneth Galbraith to Hillary Clinton have succumbed to these prejudices. But what do the facts show?
Peter Schweizer has dug deep—through tax documents, scholarly data, primary opinion research surveys, and private records—and has discovered that these claims are a myth. Indeed, he shows that many of these claims actually apply more to liberals than conservatives. Much as he did in his bestseller Do as I Say (Not as I Do), he brings to light never-before-revealed facts that will upset conventional wisdom.
Conservatives such as Ronald Reagan and Robert Bork have long argued that liberal policies promote social decay. Schweizer, using the latest data and research, exposes how, in general:
* Liberals are more self-centered than conservatives.
* Conservatives are more generous and charitable than liberals.
* Liberals are more envious and less hardworking than conservatives.
* Conservatives value truth more than liberals, and are less prone to cheating and lying.
* Liberals are more angry than conservatives.
* Conservatives are actually more knowledgeable than liberals.
* Liberals are more dissatisfied and unhappy than conservatives.
Schweizer argues that the failure lies in modern liberal ideas, which foster a self-centered, “if it feels good do it” attitude that leads liberals to outsource their responsibilities to the government and focus instead on themselves and their own desires.
* Seventy-one percent of conservatives say you have an obligation to care for a seriously injured spouse or parent versus less than half (46 percent) of liberals.
* Conservatives have a better work ethic and are much less likely to call in sick than their liberal counterparts.
* Liberals are 2½ times more likely to be resentful of others’ success and 50 percent more likely to be jealous of other people’s good luck.
* Liberals are 2 times more likely to say it is okay to cheat the government out of welfare money you don’t deserve.
* Conservatives are more likely than liberals to hug their children and “significantly more likely” to display positive nurturing emotions.
* Liberals are less trusting of family members and much less likely to stay in touch with their parents.
* Do you get satisfaction from putting someone else’s happiness ahead of your own? Fifty-five percent of conservatives said yes versus only 20 percent of liberals.
* Rush Limbaugh, Ronald Reagan, Bill O’Reilly and Dick Cheney have given large sums of money to people in need, while Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, Michael Moore, and Al Gore have not.
* Those who are “very liberal” are 3 times more likely than conservatives to throw things when they get angry.
The American left prides itself on being superior to conservatives: more generous, less materialistic, more tolerant, more intellectual, and more selfless. For years scholars have constructed—and the media has pushed—elaborate theories designed to demonstrate that conservatives suffer from a host of personality defects and character flaws. According to these supposedly unbiased studies, conservatives are mean-spirited, greedy, selfish malcontents with authoritarian tendencies. Far from the belief of a few cranks, prominent liberals from John Kenneth Galbraith to Hillary Clinton have succumbed to these prejudices. But what do the facts show?
Peter Schweizer has dug deep—through tax documents, scholarly data, primary opinion research surveys, and private records—and has discovered that these claims are a myth. Indeed, he shows that many of these claims actually apply more to liberals than conservatives. Much as he did in his bestseller Do as I Say (Not as I Do), he brings to light never-before-revealed facts that will upset conventional wisdom.
Conservatives such as Ronald Reagan and Robert Bork have long argued that liberal policies promote social decay. Schweizer, using the latest data and research, exposes how, in general:
* Liberals are more self-centered than conservatives.
* Conservatives are more generous and charitable than liberals.
* Liberals are more envious and less hardworking than conservatives.
* Conservatives value truth more than liberals, and are less prone to cheating and lying.
* Liberals are more angry than conservatives.
* Conservatives are actually more knowledgeable than liberals.
* Liberals are more dissatisfied and unhappy than conservatives.
Schweizer argues that the failure lies in modern liberal ideas, which foster a self-centered, “if it feels good do it” attitude that leads liberals to outsource their responsibilities to the government and focus instead on themselves and their own desires.
Ratings and reviews
3.7
17 reviews
A Google user
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August 25, 2009
Unmitigated tripe and selective pseudo-statistics. No wonder the conservative movement has been the sole refuge of the dregs of society for so long. Even the Goldwater conservatives are ashamed of the rank and file, and the Eisenhower conservatives decamped long time ago. The only ones left are the Hannity-Beck-Cheney-Limbaugh nutjobs who have the collective acumen of a brain dead squirrel.
Since we are discussing 'intelligence' just scan any ivy league school and check the percentage of self-professed conservatives there - the number will be in single digits.
Regarding the conservatives being 'happy' , have you seen the gun toting whackos at the health reform townhalls ? Remember that MacVeigh was conservative, so are most of the assorted nuts arrested for violent crime. Let's face it, we are talking about the same people among whom are luminaries like Michelle Bachmann, Virginia Foxx, Virgil Goode and Tom Delay.
Conservatism is a pox on our society and needs to be excised surgically.
David Carr
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December 25, 2012
Right wing tripe. That many can read such flawed logic and believe it shows how fox news has become successful -- give em what they want, tell em its truth and make tons of money selling books!! I sometimes stopped reading this for days at a time just to enjoy a hearty dose of laughter!
A Google user
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November 15, 2016
This book along with the total sorry collection of works of Peter Schweizer can be summed up in one sentence. Rich white conservative people are superior in all aspects to non-whites and other open minded liberal people. Save your valuable time and just read the cliff notes. They are kinder, less self centered, more hard working , generous, happier, better looking and superior in every imaginable way. I am sure if Jesus Christ was alive today he would be a card carrying neo-con Republican and at his right and left side would be his favorites Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrinch and Darth Cheney... issuing generosity and love to all. He would look like a younger version of Brad Pitt and Tom Brady and have huge bank accounts. You can substitute makers with whites and takers with blacks, latinos and intellectual elites and get the white supremacist handbook. Liberals ruin everything and should be rounded up and be put out of their misery or imprisioned. Conservatives are the makers who do all of the hard physical and mental work and lazy free loading loser liberals sit around all day getting high. Liberals are a burden to the rich because they believe they are entitled to collectivist freebies like social security, medicare, libraries, police, fire departments, clean drinking water, public schools, and trash collection.
3 people found this review helpful
About the author
Peter Schweizer is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and is the author of numerous books, including the New York Times bestseller Do as I Say (Not as I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy. He lives in Florida with his wife and sons.
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