"Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do."
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The notion that conservatism is associated with intolerance of ambiguity is consistent with a great many theories, and it is implicit in ideological theories of integrative complexity. It may also provide a psychological context for understanding statements such as this one made by George W. Bush at an international conference of world leaders in Italy: “I know what I believe and I believe what I believe is right” (Sanger, 200l).~Our review suggests that there is a relatively strong connection between dogmatism and intolerance of ambiguity, on the one hand, and various measures of political conservatism, on the other.And, from the conclusion, on page 31:
Understanding the psychological underpinnings of conservatism has for centuries posed a challenge for historians, philosophers, and social scientists. . . . [P]olitical conservatism may be thought of as a form of motivated social cognition. . . . Conservative ideologies, like virtually all other belief systems, are adopted in part because they satisfy various psychological needs. . . . Variables significantiy associated with conservatism, we now know, include fear and aggression, dogmatism andintolerance of ambiguity, uncertainty avoidance, need for cognitive closure, personal need for structure, terror management, group-based dominance, and system justification. . . . We regardpolitical conservatism as an ideological belief system that is significantly (but not completely) related to motivational concerns having to do with the psychological management of uncertainty and fear. Specifically, the avoidance of uncertainty (and the striving for certainty) may be particularly tied to one core dimension of conservative thought, resistance to change. Similarly, concerns with fear and threat may be linked to the second core dimension of conservatism, endorsement of inequality. Although resistance to change and support for inequality are conceptually distinguishable, we have argued that they are psychologically interrelated, in part because motives pertaining to uncertainty and threat are interrelated.Gotta love science.