# Quote — Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind

> Liberalism seemed so obviously ethical. Liberals marched for peace, workers' rights, civil rights, and secularism. The Republican Party was (as we saw it) the party of war, big business, racism, and evangelical Christianity. I could not understand how any thinking person would voluntarily embrace the party of evil. […] When I returned to America [from India], social conservatives no longer seemed so crazy.

- Author: [Jonathan Haidt](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jonathan-haidt.md)
- Book: [The Righteous Mind](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jonathan-haidt/the-righteous-mind.md)
- Page: 126
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jonathan_Haidt#The_Righteous_Mind:_Why_Good_People_are_Divided_by_Politics_and_Religion_(2012)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/jonathan-haidt/the-righteous-mind/liberalism-seemed-so-obviously

## More from this book

> Anyone who values truth should stop worshipping reason.

p. 104 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jonathan-haidt/the-righteous-mind/anyone-who-values.md)

> Republicans understand moral psychology. Democrats don't.

p. 181 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jonathan-haidt/the-righteous-mind/republicans-understand-moral.md)

> Omnivores therefore go through life with two competing motives: neophilia (an attraction to new things) and neophobia (a fear of new things). People vary in terms of which motive is stronger […]: Liberals score higher on measures of neophilia (also known as "openness to experience"), not just for new foods but also for new people, music, and ideas. Conservatives are higher on neophobia; they prefer to stick with what's tried and true, and they care a lot more about guarding borders, boundaries, and traditions.

p. 172 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jonathan-haidt/the-righteous-mind/omnivores-therefore-go-through.md)