David McElroy

For me, it’s always been second nature to try to understand other people and what they believe. I was aware very early in life that I was “wired up” differently than other people were. From an early age, I thought a lot about why people were different from me — and I spent a lot of time trying to understand why they were so different. (That’s what quickly led to my life-long interest in psychology.)

Even at this point in my life, nothing fascinates me and much as observing people closely and trying to understand them. Most people are that interesting, but I sometimes find things I wasn’t expecting. Every now and then, I strike gold and find someone with enough depth that I could spend a lifetime of exploring and not run out of new things to find. Some people are obsessed with football. Others are obsessed with stamps or fishing or shoes. I’m obsessed with understanding people and figuring out how they tick.

That’s the context for the article I wrote Tuesday about the two sides of the political mainstream not understanding each other. It’s so deeply ingrained in me to want to understand that I thought others would realize it’s a big deal if the sides don’t understand each other, but I think I was mistaken.

When I posted a link to the article on my Facebook page, a very conservative friend responded by saying, “It’s not so much conservative vs. liberal as educated vs. stupid.”

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The re-election of Barack Obama honestly stunned many conservatives. They could understand some people being confused enough to vote for Obama four years ago, but as they watched his actions during his first term, they were certain that most people saw the same danger they saw.

Now those conservatives are left confused and scared of what’s next. Mostly, though, many of the conservatives I know are trying to figure out what went wrong. How is it that what was so plain to them wasn’t plain to a majority in the country?

Deep down, most people believe that other reasonable and intelligent people are like them. It makes sense on some level. If you assume that you’re intelligent, informed and reasonable, you assume that similar people would come to similar conclusions. And if they don’t come to similar conclusions, well, they’re not very bright. Or they’re ill-informed. Or biased. Or unreasonable. Somehow, there’s something wrong with them.

Conservatives have believed that they were in the majority for years. Even during the tumultuous ’60s, Richard Nixon told conservatives that they were the “silent majority.” In the ’70s, the Rev. Jerry Falwell founded the Moral Majority to become a political force for social conservatives. In both of these names, you see the assumption that the majority are obviously “with us.”

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Have you seen this chart being posted by various people in the last week? It purports to show that Barack Obama has issued more than 900 executive orders during his first term, which is said to be wildly out of proportion to every other president who’s used them.

The point is to show that Obama is ruling by fiat. He’s going around Congress and ruling more like a king. It looks pretty scary. The only problem is that it’s a lie. Everything about it is made up.

Here’s a look at the real numbers. Obama has actually issued 138 executive orders. George W. Bush had 173 during his first term, by comparison. Various other presidents have issued hundreds of them. Franklin Roosevelt actually issued more than 3,000 during his four terms, instead of the 11 that the chart gives him credit for.

As you know, I don’t care for Obama or any other president. You can imagine how happy I am about any executive order. But the facts of what Obama and other presidents have done is bad enough. There’s no reason to make things up. When people make up lies to support their attacks on politicians, they’re only hurting themselves in the long run.

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