Why Liberals are Almost Always in the Minority

Any community is divided into two kinds of people, those who are more or less happy with the way the community is organized and operates, and those who are not. Those who feel that they benefit and prosper in the community, or feel that they will do so, are happy with it. But there are others who are unhappy. They feel that they do not benefit from the community’s structure, that they cannot. They don’t like it and they want to change it in a way that will benefit them more, where they can thrive.

Those who are happy are called “Conservatives.” They want to preserve and conserve the community structure, organization, and operation pretty much as it is. It is one that they are happy with. They do or expect to prosper in it.

Those who are unhappy are called “Liberals.” Another word, perhaps, “Non-Conservatives” or “Changers” or “Rebels” might be more appropriate. But we appear to be pretty much stuck with “Liberals.” They want to change the structure, because they believe it is an obstacle to them. They are not happy with things the way they are now.

There is a principle that describes what happens. There is basically only one way to be happy with the situation. You like it, it fits you and the way you want to live and work. You are happy with it. However, there are many ways to be unhappy with it. It is not fair to you. Its rules are too restrictive. Resources are denied to you. They are against you. They keep you in the dark, hiding information from you. You are not like them, so they hold that against you. They never give you a chance. They are stupid, not smart like you, and they know it. They are afraid of you, so they keep you down. They lie to you. You are too young, too old, too short, too ugly, too different, something, and they don’t like you. There are all kinds of ways to be unhappy with the community’s system.

This principle is the Anna Karenina Principle explained by Jarod Diamond in his extraordinary book, Guns, Germs, and Steel . The Principle’s name comes from the first words of Leo Tolstoy’s novel Anna Karenina: “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Rephrased, “There is basically one way to be right, but many ways to be wrong.” But perhaps this is too harsh on Liberals. Maybe, “There is one way to fit in the system, but many ways not to.”

The Anna Karenina Principle applies to politics in this way: A community breaks down into minority segments, each with its own gripe, and one group that is happy. The happy group isn’t exactly homogeneous, but it is more homogeneous than the others are collectively. The happy group will be the largest minority group, perhaps even a majority. This happy group is the Conservatives. Conservatives will therefore be the largest of minorities, or else the majority. Most people will be Conservatives. Generally, this will always be the case.

Now this sounds perhaps a bit self serving. Why couldn’t Liberals be more, even a majority. Because Liberals are unhappy. They want to change the community’s societal structure. If they are the biggest minority or the majority, then they would take charge and change it. Then it wouldn’t be something they wouldn’t like. It would be their way, their structure. Then they would be happy. They wouldn’t want it to change back or different. They would be the Conservatives. They would have become the Conservatives. So the Conservatives would be the largest group. The society might have turned over, but whoever is happy with it are the Conservatives.