Excellent interview w/ Michael Medved

"TAE: Your political conversion took longer than your religious conversion. You write that "I re-fused to give up on thinking of myself as a liberal because I didn't want to stop seeing myself as a good person." How have liberals done such a good job of associating themselves with virtue?

MEDVED: By emphasizing good intentions while ignoring bad results. This is one of those things where Judaism actually fits better to conservatism than Christianity, because one of the teachings of Judaism is that performing the commandment counts more than your intentions. Judaism believes in changing the heart by changing your actions. Christianity tends to emphasize changing your actions by changing your heart. In this sense, serious Judaism sets you up very well to reject the liberal scam that we are wonderful and nice people not because we actually help anyone, but because we want to help."