Cultures.

Publicola has written an excellent piece on the differences between those of us who support and defend the right to arms, and those who support “gun control,” and I think he’s nailed it. Money quote:

What I think the conflict boils down to is a struggle between the collectivists & the individualists. It’s not a question of trust per se, it’s a question of faith. It’s a belief that one system is better, more ideal than the other.

Read the whole thing. He’s exactly right. I wish I’d written it.

Yesterday afternoon on my way home from work I was listening to Hugh Hewitt‘s radio show. He had Dennis Prager on for about an hour, and I caught most of it. Dennis said something that relates to what Publicola is saying in his piece:

It is not possible to think clearly and be on the left. It is not possible. It is possible to think unclearly and be on the right. Not everybody on the right thinks clearly. But everyone on the left thinks unclearly. It is not possible to have a leftist view of the world, and think clearly. It is feeling and passion.

And that, in short is the difference between, as I see it, individualists and collectivists. Collectivism comes from wishing things were not as they are, and refusing to see what is. Those on the right can be guilty of this as well, but it’s a requirement for those on the Left.