@AlisonCreekside @pluralistic it seems to me that conservatism, as practiced by politicos, is less the desire to BE a child, than to treat their CONSTITUENTS as children. It's believing in a bright line between the rulers and the ruled.

Only the ruling class needs to know, in their minds, about the complexities. It feels like how male chauvinist pigs have always liked to say, "don't worry your pretty little head about it", to take all the knowledge, and thus all the power, away from women; but it's expanded now to include the other 49% of the population.