Scientists Find 'Liberal Gene'

NBC News 7 ^ | Thursday, Oct 28, 2010 | Eric S. Page

[maddog55]

Researchers have determined that genetics could matter when it comes to some adults' political leanings.

According to scientists at UC San Diego and Harvard University, "ideology is affected not just by social factors, but also by a dopamine receptor gene called DRD4." That and how many friends you had during high school.

The study was led by UCSD's James Fowler and focused on 2,000 subjects from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Scientists matched the subjects' genetic information with "maps" of their social networks. According to researchers, they determined that people "with a specific variant of the DRD4 gene were more likely to be liberal as adults." However, the, subjects were only more likely to have leanings to the left if they were also socially active during adolescence.

"It is the crucial interaction of two factors -- the genetic predisposition and the environmental condition of having many friends in adolescence -- that is associated with being more liberal,” according to the study.

"These findings suggest that political affiliation is not based solely on the kind of social environment people experience,” said Fowler, who is a professor of political science and medical genetics.

The researchers also said their findings held true no matter what the ethnicity, culture, sex or age of the subjects were.

Source: Scientists Find 'Liberal Gene' | NBC 7 San Diego

[maddog55]

Old but relevent.. Liberalism is a Progressive Disease

[Steely Tom]

I had "many friends in adolescence."

Didn't stop me from not becoming a liberal.

[tallyhoe]

Can it be removed?

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

so its a disability now?

[Gay State Conservative]

Geeze...after seeing University of California and Harvard I know where this is going.Conservatives had no friends in high school,are more likely to be alcoholics,have more convictions for child molestation and are more likely to be married to their cousins.

[Arthurio]

So would abortions targeting a fetus because it had the “liberal gene’ be okay?

[SledgeCS]

I would be expecting a new addition to the SSDI database of disabilities in the near future 0bammy does seem to want to get everyone on gimmedat handouts.

[5thGenTexan]

so its a disability now?

I wager they will try to contend a lack of one is a disability.

[MagUSNRET]

I have 2 words for this study BULL CHIPS!

I wonder how much tax payer cash subsidized the “GRANT” this horsechit “study”

[Nifster]

then you apparently don’t have the gene...it requires both

[lbryce]

I'd say it's an absolutely fake. Since logic, rationale, level-headedness are not liberal characteristics, and then you've got the Russian Black Book which documents deaths, murder of up to 90 million people and we're not even talking about any sort of misery index or the trillions in natural resources that were destroyed for political reasons, well of course someone is going to trot out some poor maligned gene in which to blame it all on.

It's a tough nut to crack to go it alone.

[Slyfox]

I have nine brothers and sisters, a total of twelve of us (including me and Mom and Dad). All but two sisters listen to conservative talk radio and watch Fox News. (Five of us are active Tea Partiers.) Those two sisters are the only ones who voted for BodyOdor.

So, it's not genetic from our family "poll," it's more environmental.

[Minutemen]

Scientists Find 'Liberal Gene'

Are they working on a cure for it?

[HangnJudge]

[FrankR]

I call B.S. on this study...it sounds as if they can “sell” this crap, selling the “gay gene” will be “precedented”.

[lwoodham]

Now we have a way to defeat them. Genetic engineering!

[mikrofon]

He was easy to spot in the 60's:

[muawiyah]

That does sound like the argument being advanced. It's the kind of discovery that certainly stretches the bounds of time and space into tatters eh!

I know, a compromise ~ sterilization! That'd be progressive (/s)

[LostInBayport]

specific variant of the DRD4 gene were more likely to be liberal

A variant....not the norm. Isn't an aberrant gene considered a birth defect? This explains them at last.

It beats my prior theory: demonic possession.

[Truth is a Weapon]

We don’t need no stinking genes to identify liberals.

In my experience the trait is almost perfectly correlated with stupidity.