This article, Fair and Unbalanced, talks about how the left thinks the right is crazy.

“We found that, particularly for males who had never had any psychotherapy, when they reported a high level of childhood punishment, they were significantly more likely to endorse a range of punitive public policies like support for the death penalty, opposition to abortion, support for the use of military force,” [Michael Milburn] told Newsweek magazine.

I would like to note that these three examples are driven from the right by morals, rather than intellect. A sure sense of right and wrong. Which might also suggest that the Liberal Psychotherapy watered down, if not destroyed the moral upbringing of the person.

His suggestion that those of us on the right need psychotherapy is a clear suggestion that we have some kind of mental illness.

Let’s get this straight. MY MENTAL ILLNESS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH MY CONSERVATIVEISM. I am a conservative with mental illness, that is true, but I could just as easily be a businessman who is a recovering alcoholic. The first fact has nothing to do with the second, but they do happen to be two faces of the person.

“What we have found, really broadly, is the higher level of punitiveness among political conservatives is really strongly associated with experiences, generally, of harsh punishment from childhood. It’s not just going to be that they were spanked; there’s a whole family climate, and punishment is just going to be one of those indicators of that,” Milburn said.

This is where the left and the right veer off of each other. Sure, swift and consistent punishment is the cornerstone of bringing up a person who understands the negative consequences of their actions. Whether or not they continue on with a punishable action is up to them, but it at least gives them time to pause and fully consider their pending actions and weighing it against what will happen when they get caught.

My parents were very moral people. They both went through the Depression and knew the best way was usually the hardest way. I’m afraid we have lost that kind of discipline in today’s “instant gratification isn’t fast enough” world.

I’m just glad that we have enough moral people out there who see that there are things worth fighting and dying for, and I am proud to be one of them. While I do have a mental illness, my positions on important subject do not make me crazy just because I have a different opinion from Mr. Milburn.