Are politics in the genes?

[SOteric]

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7005404625

Research Says Politics Could Be In Genes

November 4, 2006 10:15 a.m. EST


Som Patidar - All Headline News Staff Writer
Lincoln, NE (AHN) - Researchers and political scientists from three universities have a new theory that politics may not be in blood but it could be in the genes.

Researchers and political scientists from University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Rice University and Virginia Commonwealth University came up with the theory.

In the research, about 8,000 sets of identical and fraternal twins answered a series of questions. Topics were diverse and included such things as school prayer, nuclear power, women's liberation and the death penalty.

Researchers found that identical twins, who share their entire genetic code, answered more similarly than fraternal twins, who are no more similar than non-twin siblings.

Evan Charney, assistant professor of public policy and political science at Duke University, said: "The very idea that something like a political ideology could be heritable is incoherent. It doesn't make any sense, and it's historically inaccurate."

Do you think political leanings can be passed along in our genetic matter, - and if so, would this make you more or less inclined to be compassionate with Conservatives?

[Nikia]

1. I have both Democrats and Repulblicans in my family

I spent more time around my mother's vocal Democratic parents. My dad's Republican parents were less vocal. I'd say the biggest influence on me causing me to be a Democrat though was reading the Lorax and watching the cartoon version.
I'd like to note that my Republican grandparents were not evil at all. They were Liberatarian types who had a lot of faith in individual responsibility, voluntary community support, and the integrity of business leaders.
The Lorax showed me where the implentation of those beliefs would lead.

[SOteric]

2. I actually have good friends who are Republican

and not evil. Evilness is not the issue though. This research tends to suggest that regardless of nurture, no matter what one reads or is exposed to, we're genetically coded to think either conservatively or liberally.

[Generic Brad]

3. I call B.S.

I am the only one in my family who is a Democrat. The rest are firm Republicans. I am of them, but I am not one of them.

[SOteric]

4. So, you totally discount the possibility

that you were left on their doorstep as an infant, -abandoned by a gay/lesbian family of liberal Gypsy circus performers...?

[Generic Brad]

5. I am the only one in my family with blonde hair, now that you mention it

But I still discount that theory. I am my father's son.

[TheBaldyMan]

6. IMO it's in the upbringing, I suppose I got my politics from my mum

my mum brought me up properly, that's why I'm a socialist.

[jus_the_facts]

7. Most of my family are fundies...

....so I don't think it's genetic...and I've been told all m'life I look just like my Mom..yet we've always been on two different planes of existence in this world.

:hi:

[SOteric]

8. See, and I'm very much like the rest of my family

but I still think it's unlikely that political opinions are predetermined by a strand of DNA. I agree it's intriguing that identical twins share so much more of the same mindset than do fraternal twins and nontwin siblings. But I feel as though the whole dynamic of opinions, language and shared viewpoint amoung identical twins is not fully understood.

If we're talking about a physical manifestation, it seems clear cut that identical twins can assist in analysis. Political ideologies, not-so-much.

[Kutjara]

9. This may explain why many rabid Pukes are against...

...stemcell research. They think it'll be used to 'cure' them.

[SOteric]

10. And abortion...

- Could be used to weed out the recessive traits for conservativism. :shrug: