As Gene noted earlier, Markos “Kos” Moulitsas has put up an interesting big-think post over at DailyKos advancing the ideals of the “Libertarian Democrat,” about which, apparently, he is writing a book. Kos rightly points out that libertarians have very little in common with the GOP in its present incarnation. So what is to prevent libertarians from siding with the Democrats in elections? Before I delve into Kos’s answer, let me say what I think is the major barrier to a left/libertarian lovefest.
There is some evidence that personality traits predict party affiliation. For example, “openness to experience,” one of the “big five” personality traits, strongly correlates with ideological preference. According to psychologist Robert R. McCrae:
Read the rest of this post →Open individuals have an affinity for liberal, progressive, left-wing political views, whereas closed individuals prefer conservative, traditional, right wing views. Indeed, a case can be made for saying that variations in experiential openness are the major psychological determinant of political polarities. [Paper abstract.]