Most of the diehard liberals that I know are products of long term association with academia. They have all the philosophical, theoretical, creative, ideological knowledge that a person could ever ask for. When it comes to practical, street smart, reality based ability to do something like, hmmm...double a recipe, they are at a loss. I have a sister with 4 different degrees, and top of her class for one of them, who literally called our mom to ask how to double a recipe! BTW, Sis is as liberal as they come.