All MAN.

Just finished a two day trip to 'far right' blogs. Kind of scary. Lots of very heated rhetoric, lots of hate for gays, liberals, Obama, big government. My favorite was the guy who wants his far right friends to take over a state in the U.S. and, as he implies,separate from the U.S.

But we can all learn something new, or better our focus. I have always wondered why there is a rather pronounced difference between men and women in their political leanings. I think I know now. A lot of men want to project a 'macho' image. That means being tough, not sentimental, not overly concerned with sympathy for others. Of course this open quest for a macho image is at the margins. That is most men don't really worry too much about whether they are perceived as macho-manly. But it is very apparent on the far right blogs. Lots of military stuff, very anti-gay, contempt for liberal bleeding hearts folks.

In our country for the last half century, the Republican party is seen as the party of strong military action as a real option to any international crisis, a strong individualist capitalist society with little tolerance for government action to curb excesses, the right of the majority to determine anything with little tolerance for minorities of any type---women, racial minorities, sexual minorities etc. The Democrats are defined by reversing the above---diplomacy, government intervention on behalf of the consumer, women's 'lib', affirmative action, gay rights etc. Definitely not the platform of macho-man.

Again, let me say, this is at the margins. Most men and women do not fall exactly under these stereotypes. But enough do to make a difference in party preference.

You can't escape the feeling that some men are so fearful of their sexual identity, that they want others to know they have no feminine tendencies. The tougher, less caring , the more self-reliant I am---all this proves I am all "man." No limp wrists, see.