An opinions from abroad:
I think Sarah Palin is indeed a Rorschach test for Conservatives, but it’s about much than manners or players vs. kibbitzes – it’s about what Conservativsm MEANS.
The core idea behind Conservatism is that most of human learning is done not by rational theorizing, but by pattern recognition. Our brain processes huge amounts of data every second, and most information we get out of it is in the form of recognized patterns, not fully logical theories. It’s fair to say that 90% of our knowledge is in patterns, not in theories.
This pattern recognition is called common sense, and over generations, it’s called traditions, conventions etc. Religion is usually a carrier meme for these evolved patterns. It’s sort of an evolutionary process, like a genetic algorithm.
Liberals, Lefties and even many Libertarians want to use only 10% of the human knowledge that’s rational. And because our rational knowledge cannot yet fully explain neither human nature in itself nor everything that happens in society, they fill the holes with myths like that everybody is born good and only society makes people bad etc.
Conservatives are practical people who instinctively recognize the importance of evolved patterns in human learning: because our rational knowledge simply isn’t enough yet, these common sense patterns are our second best option to use. And to use these patterns effectively you don’t particularly have to be very smart i.e. very rational. You have to be _wise_ and you have to have a good character: you have to set hubris and pride aside and be able to accept traditions you don’t fully understand.
Thus, for a Conservative, while smartness never hurts, being wise and having a good character is more important than being very smart. Looking a bit simple simply isn’t a problem, you still have that 90% of knowledge at hand.
Anti-Palin Conservatives don’t understand it. They think Conservativism is about having different theories than the Left, they don’t understand that it’s that theories and rational knowledge isn’t so important.
