Ustwo

As a darwinist (from a strictly biology stand point) there is most likely some genetic ties which lead to traits which in turn can lead to that persons political philosophy.

I don't think they are measuring it right here though or the right traits. I took one of those personality tests and it related my openness low, but the questions themselves were political questions. Basically the assumption was that liberals are open so if I'm not a liberal I must not be open to new ideas. This type of reasoning makes such a test potentially inaccurate, and it was addressed in the original article as well.

Bias aside there are more variables they need to address.

The fact that 4/5ths of identical twins compared to 2/3rds of fraternal twins shared some political views is interesting but could be misleading. First 4/5ths doesn't impress me that much, we are talking identical genes, I'd expect a higher correlation if it was mostly genetic. The question being though, did each have the same information? Did one have a class where they talked about property taxes vrs one where they didn't? Did one own land and the other not? Also we need to see where the fraternal twins differed. If one was Captain of the football team and the other got the ugly lazy genes they may have different political philosophies which were caused by their life experiences which were due to their different genetic make up. So was one conservative because of his genes or because he had a different life experience? Its not as easy a question if you think about it.

My family is mostly conservative. Of the two defectors, one is a shyster lawyer of the worst kind who has gotten away with fraud for decades and the other has issues I'd rather not discuss. Both may well have conservative 'genes' but their different life path has led them perhaps to justify who they vote for without perhaps even a real switch in philosophy. Trial lawyers rely on democrats to keep the sue you gravy train going (this is a fact, check out the donations and which party protects them) it would be against his self interest for conservatives to win, so self interest would prevail as more important then general philosophy.

or.....

As a family we simply instilled conservative thought on the children as part of their general learning and two members of my family had different life experiences which altered their opinions.

But the final question I'll answer....are we wasting our breath?

Yes. With me you are wasting your breath. There is nothing you could say to make me into a liberal. If it turns out George Bush was everything host said, including virgin sacrifice, if you remember that post, and then ate live kittens as well in republican gay pedophile orgies I'd still be a conservative, I just wouldn't vote republican anymore.

With others though, perhaps not. I've known people to change their political stripes. Normally they didn't have all the information, or made wrong assumptions they later discovered were wrong which changed their minds. These people its not a waste on. I've had a few pms from people who said I've changed their minds, I even changed the mind of a life long university liberal professor once who I had frequent chats with. These people won't be posting here, at least not much or often, though they do occasionally read.

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Agents of the enemies who hold office in our own government, who attempt to eliminate our "freedoms" and our "right to know" are posting among us, I fear.....on this very forum. - host

Obama - Know a Man by the friends he keeps.