The enigma about followers of conservatives

Today's New York Times has an article on the myth of liberal activist judges - Our Fill-in-the Blank Constitution. It is a myth that has been created an perpetuated by conservatives to suit their interests.

Here is how it describes conservative interests:

Conservative judges ... tend to exercise the power of judicial review to invalidate laws that disadvantage corporations, business interests, the wealthy and other powerful interests in society. They employ judicial review to protect the powerful rather than the powerless.

And, liberals

Liberal judges, on the other hand, have tended to exercise the power of judicial review to invalidate laws that disadvantage racial and religious minorities, political dissenters, people accused of crimes and others who are unlikely to have their interests fully and fairly considered by the majority. Liberal judges have ended racial segregation, recognized the principle of “one person, one vote,” prohibited censorship of the Pentagon Papers and upheld the right to due process, even at Guantánamo Bay.

Of this is indeed true, then why do the less powerful, and the poor in the US become conservatives. That comes back to my blog from a few days ago - The politics of fear vs. the politics of hope. Conservatives have mastered the art of fear, and succeed in scaring the people to follow their cause. This also explains the oft-quoted statement - why do people vote against their self-interest. Not to say that the liberals are above it, but they do it much less.