Mate… I’m not saying you’re wrong, but if I don’t see the paper for myself, I’m inclined to be critical of your summary of it. I don’t disagree that it is plausible conservatives indeed are more wealthy, but you have too many assumptions in your comment for any proper conclusion to be taken.

And the idea about altruism isn’t really mine, it’s a very very old and still existing idea in philosophy. Of course it has proponents and opponents, but it hasn’t really been rejected to a degree sufficient to dismiss it, it just remains like pretty much all philosophical concepts, debated. So claiming it is false is a bit arrogant, especially without a proper argument. It would be like claiming free will exists or doesn’t exist with confidence (and this analogy is ironic because egoism is a significant part of the free will debate).

And btw, before you think I’m defending conservatives, you should know I’m a scientist, so I am critical of anything and everything until I see the evidence, and even then, I am critical of the way the evidence was gathered and how it was interpreted. I’m not trying to be “pedantic,” I’m trying to be accurate, because a minute twist on the truth makes it false.