SOME ARE NOW REFERRING TO ISSUES IN WASHINGTON D.C. AS “WATERGATE II”

…This is the late Chuck Colson, better known during Watergate as Nixon’s “Dirty Tricks Guy”

 

There are more “Right Wing Authoritarians” than you might think in today’s Republican party.

The issue that I brought up in previous articles about the differences between Conservatives and Liberals, that may be very boring to some of you.  Therefore, if that’s the case, you may want to ignore this article. But if you are as curious as I have become, I think you might find it interesting as to what some studies have learned about some of the differences in people that call themselves “conservatives”.

 

First, I would like to revisit the issue around the “RWA scale”.  That being the scale that was developed by the psychologist, Dr. Robert Altemeyer, and it stands for Right Wing Authoritarian (RWA).  This was a scale for testing social conservatives to a point that they were considered to be Low or High RWA’s, here are some RWA scale questions or statements which were agreed to by over 95% of those considered as RWA’s:

 

RWA’s agree wholeheartedly with these statements:

 

·       Our country desperately needs a strong and mighty leader who will do whatever is necessary to destroy the radical new ways in sinfulness that are ruining us today.

 

·       The only way our country can get through the crisis ahead is to get back to our traditional values, put some tough leaders in power, and silence the troublemakers who are spreading bad ideas.

 

·       “Old fashioned ways” and “old fashioned values” are the best guide for the way to live.

 

·       God’s laws about abortion, pornography, and marriage must be strictly followed before it is too late, and those who break them must be strongly punished.

 

·       Once our government leaders give us the “go ahead,” it will be the duty of every patriotic citizen  to help stomp out the rot that is poisoning our country from within.

 

Most social conservatives asked about these statements also strongly agreed with the above statements.

 

But these same social conservatives were strongly against the following statements:

 

·       Gays and lesbians are just as healthy and moral as everybody else.

·       Atheists and others who have rebelled against established religions are no doubt, every bit as good and virtuous as those who attend church regularly.

 

·       There is absolutely nothing wrong with nudist camps.

 

·       There is nothing wrong with premarital sex.

 

To better explain the “RWA scale”, think of a square that is divided into 4 equal sections.  The top left square has a general list of what Liberals agree with and what they oppose, the top right square is what the Communitarians agree with and oppose.  The bottom left square is a list of what Libertarians agree with and oppose, and the square on the bottom right is what the Conservatives agree with and oppose.

There is also a horizontal arrow along the bottom of the total square with the 4 sections.  To the left of the bottom arrow is the word “Freedom”, to the right of the bottom arrow is the word “Order”  There is another vertical arrow on the left of the large, 4 section square.  At the bottom of the vertical arrow is the word “Freedom” again, and at the top of the square and the vertical arrow is the word “Equality”.

 

So, when a person is being classified as to how conservative they are, versus how liberal they are, all that is necessary, is to ask them where they agree or disagree regarding the four categories as defined in the layout of the scale.

 

What the psychologists determined is demonstrated by the following comments:

 

When listening to conservative like Rush Limbaugh, Paul Ryan, Sean Hannity or Ann Coulter, and they say that liberals favor guaranteeing equal rights for homosexuals, actually “low rated RWA’s” also feel that same way.  And when listening to Liberals such as Gary Trudeau, Nancy Pelosi, Bill Clinton or Al Gore, saying that conservatives oppose abortion and favor the death penalty, actually it’s mostly the High RWA’s that agree with that.  The psychologists agreed that when people are conservatives politically, religiously, and economically, the odds are very great that they will be “High RWA’s”.

In another study employing the RWA scale that was conducted by a second research psychologist, it had said the scale predicted the voting patterns for Republicans.  It showed that even though using the scale can’t determine whether an individual is a conservative and/or a Republican, the findings were very clear that if they scored high on the RWA scale, they were more than likely, both a conservative, and a Republican.

 

So, what was learned by all of this data?

 

The data from the studies gave us a real understanding of the differences within conservative authoritarian personalities.

But it also gave us an understanding that there are specific categories of conservative authoritarians.  There are the RWA followers.  These are the RWA’s that would accept almost without question the statements and actions of established authorities.  The word “Authorities” here includes: parents, religious officials, government officials, police, judges, legislators, military superiors, employers and many others. 

 

Then there are RWA leaders.  These individuals seize every opportunity to lead and they enjoy above all else, having power over others.

 

Finally, the third group are the “scary” ones that are what are referred to as “conservatives void of having a conscience”. 

 

For those of you that were old enough to be around during the Watergate scandal, you might recall the names of High RWA’s such as: Chuck Colson, Gordon Liddy, Bob Haldeman, John Erlichman, John Mitchell, and yes, even President Richard Nixon himself.  These individual were able to set aside any idea of having a real conscience.  They would do whatever was asked of them regardless of the damages that came from the results of their actions.

This was the issue that caused the then White House attorney, John Dean, to move to the other side of the Watergate case and to eventually testify against President Nixon.  Mr. Dean was not a High RWA and he realized that he did have a conscience and that he could no longer support the actions of the sitting US president.

 

Mr. Dean has since stated that from what he saw in all of those individuals around President Nixon, he is now seeing similar traits in those around today’s President Trump.

 

Therefore, I’m just sayin………

 

Copyright G.Ater  2017