Conservative Raison D'etre

Scientists recently took MRI's of self-described people from the left and the right and asked them questions while under the MRI as to their beliefs and how likely they were to question their beliefs.  They surmised that right-wing, conservative thinkers are less likely to be open to questioning, or nuance in their beliefs in so far as to what they believe is what they believe.  Opposite that, left-wing liberal thinkers were more likely to question their belief systems and more open to nuance.  Which is better?  Probably both have merits.  Surabaya Stew's comment on the Rightwing Nuthouse blog post "Charles Johnson's World" regarding Charles Johnson's post on Little Green Footballs "Why I Parted Ways With The Right".
From Johnson's original post to RWN's blog post to Surabaya Stew's comment; a fascinating study in how some current and former right-wing conservatives are questioning their raison d'etre.  Easy reading and way fun!  (Read the comments as well)
"Personal criticisms of CJ aside (which don’t help your case), you acknowledge that several of his points may have some merit. Furthermore, the remaining points do have their examples which seem to validate them to a certain degree that fair people can agree to disagree about.  Of course fair people can look at the same facts and draw different conclusions, which seems to be the case here, as you have been a political (and ideological) conservative for most of your life, whereas CJ’s life story is quite different. Simply put, is it not possible that somebody of a moderate political persuasion would likely agree with most (if not all) of CJ’s 10 points? We all realize that moderate politics aren’t what Right Wing Nut House is about, so why assume that CJ was ever conservative? By the man’s own admission, LGF had a hands-off policy re: comments for many years, which is now certainly not the case. (Full disclosure: I have been a semi-frequent commentator on LGF for a few months now.)
In my opinion, a large part of the reason CJ is being especially tough on the GOP and the right because he believes nothing short of that will kick reality back into their brains. These fools are hurting all of us with their actions. Need evidence of this?
We have a war in Afghanistan about to be escalated, and Dick Cheney is attacking Obama in hopes of discrediting the entire Af-Pak strategy. The AGW summit is about to start in Copenhagen, and James Inhofe is tagging along in order to trash the global vote in order to satisfy his anti-AWG fantasy. Health Care reform is coming, and all Sarah Palin can do is spout nonsense re: “death panels”, rather than contribute usefully to the debate. Dozens of congressional town hall meetings have been broken up by tea-baggers screaming and shouting, leading the strong possibility that congressmen won’t hold such forums in the future.
Face it Rick, the GOP is acting badly and hurting America right now with. Were they acting the role of an honest opposition, CJ (and millions more Americans) would still be on board with you and other conservatives. When they return to reality, it will be years before moderates (like myself and many of my friends) listen closely to the GOP again. For the sake of our (2-party) democracy, I pray that happens sooner rather than later"