Liberal model citizens

Liberals have a very different notion of a model citizen, again generated by liberal moral categories. The ideal liberal citizen is socially responsible, and fits as many of the liberal moral categories as possible. The model liberal citizen (1) is empathetic; (2) helps the disadvantaged; (3) protects those who need protection; (4) promotes and exemplifies fulfillment in life; and (5) takes care of himself so he can do all this. Model liberal citizens are those who live a socially responsible life: they include socially responsible professionals; environmental, consumer, and minority rights advocates; union organizers among impoverished and badly treated workers; doctors and social workers who devote their lives to helping the poor and the elderly; peace advocates, educators, artists, and those in the healing professions. Interestingly, there does not seem to be any identifiable type in American life that is a model citizen in all of these ways. There have certainly been individuals who have been models in one or another of these ways, e.g., Martin Luther King, Jr., Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, John and Robert Kennedy, and, for many, Hillary Clinton.

Liberal demons

There is, of course, as rich a liberal demonology as there is a conservative one. Those who violate categories 1 to 5 are the monsters of society.

CATEGORY 1 DEMONS: The mean-spirited, selfish, and unfair – those who have no empathy and show no sense of social responsibility. Wealthy companies and businessmen who only care about profit are at the top of the list, because of their power and political influence.

CATEGORY 2 DEMONS: Those who would ignore, harm, or exploit the disadvantaged. Union-busting companies are a classic example, as are large agricultural firms that exploit farm workers, say, by exposing them to poisonous pesticides and paying them poorly.

CATEGORY 3 DEMONS: Those whose activities hurt people or the environment. They include violent criminals and out-of-control police, polluters, those who make unsafe products or engage in consumer fraud, developers with no sense of ecology, and large companies that make extensive profits from government subsidies (e.g., mining, grazing, water, and lumber subsidies) by contributing to the coffers of politicians.

CATEGORY 4 DEMONS: Those who are against public support of education, art, and scholarship.

CATEGORY 5 DEMONS: Those who are against the expansion of health care for the general public.

If there is a demon-of-all-demons for liberals, it is Newt Gingrich.

It should come as no surprise that conservative model citizens are often liberal demons, and conversely. Now that we know what conservatives and liberals consider basic moral categories, model citizens, and citizens-from-hell, other general political and social attitudes fall into place.

Incidentally, the theory given here explains many things: why we have the categories of moral actions that we have, why we have the model citizens we have, and why we have the demons we have. The categories for moral actions arise from the metaphors in the moral system. The model citizens and demons arise from the categories of moral actions.