give until you bleed...

I caught bits of Richard Land's interview with Arthur Brooks this weekend on his radio show.

I've blogged previously on his most recent books-- on "compassionate conservatism" (in the lives of those people) and "gross national happiness".

In the interview, Brooks shared one finding I hadn't heard previously: that conservatives are 45% more likely than moderates and liberals to give blood. I knew that conservatives gave more time and money to causes-- both religious and non-religious-- but blood? Wow! (And then, there's vital organs.)

One other thought on why liberals don't give as much as conservatives-- even though conservatives are less reluctant to use govt as a means to the same ends. Perhaps each side assumes that society is mostly made up of people like themselves-- conservatives imagining a giving society and liberals imagining a stingy society. Or more broadly, perhaps each side imagines that others ought to behave like they do.