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Makers and Takers: Why conservatives work harder, feel happier, have closer families, take fewer drugs, give more generously, value honesty more, are less materialistic and
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 320.50973
EAN: 9780385513500
ISBN: 038551350X
Label: Doubleday
Manufacturer: Doubleday
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 272
Publication Date: June 03, 2008
Publisher: Doubleday
Release Date: June 03, 2008
Studio: Doubleday
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Editorial Review: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.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - I was expecting more
Based on the jacket I thought this book would be like Millionaire Next Door but for politics. In Millionaire you find that the guy with the used car and jeans is a millionaire. In the book I was hoping for some defense of my positions. Like you'd find the guy with the short hair who votes Republican is actually the most generous and caring guy on the block. But that's not what this book is. It has moments when it is that. But, for the most part, it is just rehashing of some of the stupidest things ... Read More
Rating:  - But are the surveys reliable?
The argument of Makers and Takers is that conservatives have it right, behaviorally, and liberals are deeply troubled. Thus, it will give heart to the right and dyspepsia to the left, though it is written in the spirit of bemused interest, not in that of an angry screed. The core of the argument is built upon survey research. If the survey research is accurate, this is a significant book, for it traces a large number of behaviors which, it is argued, characterize those of each broadly-conceived ... Read More
Rating:  - Better than average conservative propaganda ...
Schweitzer's characterization of Liberal arrogance and self-absorption is right on the mark but the "facts" used to support some of his conclusions are a little thin. He relies heavily on anecdotal evidence and polling data that reeks of subjective bias, then he interprets it out of context.
Particularly annoying is his contention that Liberal attitudes toward child rearing are selfish and civically irresponsible, as if propagation of an individual's genes isn't the ultimate act of ... Read More
Rating:  - A fascinating and insightful read
Anyone who is not a liberal has noted how they continuously heap praise upon themselves for their moral superiority, while at the same time demonstrating a priggish hostility to those who disagree with them. In this fascinating book, the author undertakes to examine the liberals' mindset, contrasting their words with their deeds. Everything is covered here, from helping the poor (who actually gives the most of their own income to the needy), to just plain being happy. Want to understand the real, bedrock ... Read More
Rating: - Good, but could have been better
It's been anecdotally the consensus for awhile that conservatives are generally happier, more family-oriented, and so forth than liberals, but until Schweizer's book, no one had bothered to amass the necessary statistics on the matter. MAKERS AND TAKERS does our understanding of American society a considerable service in this.
There are two areas where Schweizer's tome could have been improved. First, its self-congratulatory tone would be off-putting to a liberal -- and it's liberals who would ... Read More
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