You don t have to look beyond Washington to prove what we ve known for decades, Democrats are simply better people. Democratic policies actually help people while Republican policies help themselves and corporations.Beyond Washington, though, it s been proven that Democrats make better neighbors:Democrats are more likely to offer assistance to other members of their community: over the course of a year, they are more likely than Republicans to talk with someone who is severely depressed; help a friend or neighbor find a job; or help friends, neighbors, or family members with homework. I also noted a series of differences albeit not statistically significant ones showing that Democrats more frequently loan dishes or tools to their neighbors, help strangers carry their belongings, offer up their seat on a train or bus, allow strangers to cut ahead of them in line, and give food or money directly to someone in need.Democrats are also smarter and more rational:So for liberals to make a case for an idea or cause, they come armed with data, research studies, and experts. They are convinced of an idea if all the data checks out basically they assign meaning and value to ideas that fit within the scientific method, because that s their primary thinking style. Emotion doesn t play as big of a role in validation. Not to say that liberals are unfeeling, but just more likely to set emotion aside when judging an idea initially, and factor it in later. Checks out scientifically = valuable. Liberals can get just as emotionally attached to an idea, but it s usually not the primary trigger for acceptance of an idea.Conservatives would be less likely to assign value primarily using the scientific method. Remember, their thinking style leads primarily with emotion. In order for them to find an idea valuable, it has to be meaningful for them personally. It needs to trigger empathy. Meaning, they need some kind of emotional attachment to it, such as family, or a group of individuals they are close to in some way.None of that should be terribly surprising, especially if you ve ever encountered conservatives on Facebook, and we ve all encountered conservatives on Facebook. What is surprising, though, is this study, which says we re better drivers, or at least in blue states, there are a lot fewer traffic fatalities.In all, the 14 states with the highest fatality rates went into the red column, supporting Trump. In contrast, the 12 states with the lowest fatality rates were blues that favored Clinton. In these calculations, fatality rates were determined by counting the number of road deaths in 2015 per every 100,000 people.This isn t as weird as you might think. Republicans tend to thumb their noses at constraints to their freedoms. They can t drive 55. They also tend to live in less populated areas, whereas Democrats live in areas that have a lot of traffic. Nothing slows people down faster than 1000s of brake lights ahead of them. There s more though:Another likely factor behind high fatality rates in red rural states is that their residents tend to be poorer. As a result,  Their cars are probably in worse repair. There can be a missing light in the back, or the clutch goes out,  said sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild, author of the 2016 book  Strangers In Their Own Land,  which explored views of conservatives in red state Louisiana.Hochschild also said  a kind of cowboy mentality, a kind of deregulatory, anything goes culture  exists in red states might lead to more reckless driving.They are also less likely to wear seat belts (that damn gubmint, telling people what to do).Really, though, this is just a metaphor Republicans in general. Republicans are reckless and don t give a crap about the safety of anyone who might get in their way. It s how the Republican Congress is run and it s how the roads in red states are run.Featured image via Wikimedia