Top American liberal blogger Kevin Drum offers 'five conservative myths' and requests a similar list for liberals. He asks that items be:
(a) reasonably consequential
(b) held by a nontrivial cross-section of actual politicians, think-tankers, and pundits, not just by a small lunatic fringe; and
(c) not mere differences of opinion ("abortion is murder," "preventive war is bad"), but things that are demonstrably false.
I struggled to narrow mine down to just five, but here goes:
1. Family breakdown is not a major cause of poverty and children don't generally do better with mum and a dad who are married.
2. The reason there is a 15%-25% gap between average male and female earnings is massive irrational discrimination against qualified women, not different life and career choices by men and women.
3. Liberal creationism: While evolution may explain human origins, evolutionary psychology is nothing but a collection of Just So Stories with nothing to tell us about human behaviour.
4. There are less punitive alternatives to prison which protect the public better.
5. There is no trade off between economic growth and employment and increased regulation, more paid leave and a higher minimum wage.
I welcome lists from others who post here, and if anyone wants to email me their suggestions please send them to p3t3rcuthb3rtson@gmail.com - replacing 3 with e.
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