The Ultimate Analogy-Conservative and Liberal Celebrities and Politicians Related to Atomic Theory and Reactivity

The conservative right and the liberal left political movements in this country are becoming highly polarized due in part to political pundits and politician’s viewpoints on the war, economy, jobs, social and moral/religious issues.

Compare and contrast the two primary models of atomic theory – the Bohr/Rutherford and the Quantum mechanical models and relate them to the two political movements – which model is the best fit with which movement? Explain your choice in detail with metaphor, illustrations,etc.

Example: I believe the conservative movement is more historically stable in traditional simple understandable terms much like the Bohr/Rutherford model and the Liberal movement is more socially progressive, complex and random(entropic) like the Quantum Mechanical Model. It seems to me you can usually spot the liberals in a group - they seem more random/abstract dynamic personalities and their dress, lifestyle, dysfunctional family life and manners usually give them away much like the reactivity of Chlorine. Obvious examples are the Clintons and Edwards and the John Edwards scandal is becoming thermonuclear with a long half life. He may have made Kennedy look like a firecracker if he had become president.

The conservatives usually seem to be more stable, concrete and have less dysfunctional family life like a very stable atom like Helium althogh there have been several notable exceptions lately like the 2 Love Govs - they must have been a rare unstable radioactive Helium atoms with short half lives that spontaneously decayed. They were attracted by some very reactive fast moving female like atoms with alot of kinetic energy and one could pole dance and the other one could Tango! In the atomic world the fastest dancing atoms react faster and create stronger bonds, but often times short lived bonds depending on the agressive male like atoms.

Use the following politicians/pundits/celebs or your personal favorites or least favorites and Atomic Theory Models to make your arguments and points! There are cases where a liberal and conservative can actually bond and survive like the Carvilles and Schwarzeneggars much like Sodium reacting with Chlorine to form stable salt. Other couples of the same political persuasion seem to combine combine explosively like the Clintons and Kennedys especially when the men atoms want to combine with a variety of atoms like Fluorine does and keep on reacting for years! Consult the Perodic Table
for compatible/incompatible pairs of atoms and compare with the list below.

On the Left:

John Kerry/Mrs. John Heinz Kerry
Bill/Hilary Clinton
Barack/Michelle Obama
John F. Kennedy
Ted Kennedy
Lyndon B. Johnson
Michael Moore
James Carville
Barbara Streisand
The Baldwin Brothers
Susan Sarandon/Tim Robbins
Madonna/Cher
Dixie Chicks
Jane Fonda/Gore Vidal
George Carlin
Maria(Kennedy) Shriver (Mrs. Schwarzeneggar)
Obama's cabinet
members of Congress
Al Franken aka Stuart Smalley
Barney Frank
Harry Reid
Dennis Kuchinik
Nancy Pelosi



On the Right:

George W. Bush/Laura Bush
George H. Bush/Barbara Bush
Dick Cheney/Lynn Cheney
Ronald/Nancy Reagan
Bush’s Cabinet
Members of Congress
John Boehner
Scott Brown
Newt Gingrich
Kay Bailey Hutchinson
Mary Madeleine Carville
Mitt Romney
Shawn Hannity
Bill O’Reilly
Rush Limbaugh
Robert Novack
Tucker Carlson
Ann Coulter
Charleton Heston
Mel Gibson
Clint Eastwood
Tom Selleck
John Wayne
Arnold Schwarzeneggar

This was a lesson given to my Talented and Gifted Chemistry Class at Highland Park High School Dallas, Tx in 2002. There was a good mix of liberal and conservative students and we had some lively discussions!