If Liberals are so empathetic...

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...Why can't they empathize with Conservatives? It might actually be hard wired into their brains.

(man, I'm on a roll tonight finding good articles...)

anyone who blindly adheres to a false dichotomy is an idiot, no matter which side they choose to be on.

i believe people to be evil if they make life harder for me and mine for no good reason. i use the word EVIL instead of WRONG because [putting it baldly] a wrong would be to describe rap as music or to overcharge for a promised service yet underdeliver [what many capitalists are very good at doing, i.e., buying low and selling high!] - whereas an evil would be to cause physical pain to people who have not harmed you one bit. for example, to deny the working class affordable [not bankrupting] healthcare is a real EVIL that causes real physical pain to innocents. a rightist [or clueless] person who votes for classist/sexist/rightist pols is hurting me in a very real way, every day, by making it much harder for me to obtain health care by dint of law, and by throwing legal obstacles to me obtaining my ordinary civil rights as an american citizen. such people who rub salt into the wound by sneering, "just eschew being gay!" (or by saying "just get rich or die trying") are only making things worse still. obviously, an evil is a worse category of a wrong, and what the present-day scorched-earth righties are doing [rampant and widespread disenfranchisement/abuse of the working class/people lacking $$$$$], from my perspective as a working class person subject to the callous whims of the rightie powers-that-be, is a worse category of the class called "wrong" to which righties see us lumpenproles as wrongheaded members, IOW i see most righties i've known of, as mostly EVIL, at least to my class of people. in this case i'd much rather be wrong than "right."

IDK about the characterization that it's liberals thinking of conservatives as evil as opposed to wrong.
I've never seen a liberal characterize an opponent as godless or going to hell.
I've never had a liberal call me an evil slut.
This election cycle I would not begrudge anyone with the potential to get pregnant feeling that conservatives are evil.
I think there is an issue in this study with the difference between the conservative electorate and conservative pundits / politicians.
It would probably help with the image of conservatives in general if prominent conservative politicians stopped acting like cartoon villains

OP, Morals are mentioned in the quote. That's it for me. I can't empathise with a person's feelings, if their morals are in conflict with my own. In the UK, Conservatism equates with widening the gap between rich and poor. Even in this economic crisis, the rich are getting richer (they've just had a huge tax break), whilst the less well off are losing out in a big way. Although I'm not poor, I can empathise with those who are struggling, whilst working hard. They've done nothing to deserve this treatment. And we're being told by the Conservative government that we're all in it together. Unfairness like this is immoral and I can't get into the mindset of anyone who thinks this is an acceptable way to run a country.

Is anyone arguing that Conservatives are not stupid, evil, or both?

^ Some of UK Conservatives are far right too (our PM appears to be one of them, reminds me all too much of Thatcher). They don't tend to make openly racist or homophobic statements, however. It's the financial inequality, that they appear to want, that stands out.

I do agree with you about US politics tho'. I find the fact that socialism seems to be a bad word or somehow evil or immoral to be really insulting and ironic. Thankfully, that's not the case here in the UK. Republicans don't have the monopoly on good, just because they appear to associate themselves with the bible. I don't see how the right wing party policies can be justified after reading the bible anyway. It seems hypocritical and quite surreal actually. Although I no longer participate in religion and consider myself to be agnostic, the one thing I did get from my reading of the bible was acceptance, tolerance, social equality, fairness and kindness to my fellow humans - all the stuff that right wing parties don't see as important. Did I read the wrong book?

Funny, but from my seat, liberals are more likely to see the political differences as differences of opinion and experience, while the conservatives are the ones calling Liberals evil and many other derogatory names.

I don't trust their survey. I've taken surveys designed by conservative groups, and there was no way for me to answer any of them in any way that even began to represent what I felt. And that was by design, so that the survey would support the claims they wanted to make. Political think tanks are very, very good at this game.

All that said, I do know there is real empathy related issue among liberals when it comes to conservatives, it can be very obvious when you live in a highly liberal area, ust ... This isn't it. Bonus points if you can find it or state it.

The notion that civil rights should be left up to majority rule, as in the case of gay marriage - which has been championed by the Republican party - is essentially UN-American, and can't possibly be good.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

I want to clarify the Church/State separation

Do not make laws that the primarily/only basis for their existence is teachings of a religious doctrine. Or laws that promote a specific religious agenda.

I think telling someone who they can and cannot love is a huge trespass on personal right and privacy and has no grounds outside religious doctrine