Researchers find a 'liberal gene'

[LiberalArkie]

http://www.medicaldaily.com/news/20101027/3003/researchers-find-a-liberal-gene.htm

Liberals may owe their political outlook partly to their genetic make-up, according to new research from the University of California, San Diego, and Harvard University. Ideology is affected not just by social factors, but also by a dopamine receptor gene called DRD4. The study's authors say this is the first research to identify a specific gene that predisposes people to certain political views.

Appearing in the latest edition of The Journal of Politics published by Cambridge University Press, the research focused on 2,000 subjects from The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. By matching genetic information with maps of the subjects' social networks, the researchers were able to show that people with a specific variant of the DRD4 gene were more likely to be liberal as adults, but only if they had an active social life in adolescence.

[PeaceNikki]

1. I prefer Wonkette's take on it

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9404152

[Myrina]

2. "but only if they had an active social life in adolescence"

.... sorta negates the genetic aspect of it and makes the trait more environmental, doesn't it?

[Me.]

3. So, Once Again, Choice Is Not A Factor

[PA Democrat]

4. This confirms it. I was switched at birth.

My husband always asks me if I am sure there wasn't a mix-up at the hospital. There is a Grand Canyon of difference between my political views of those of the rest of my family. Thankfully, my children seem to have inherited the "liberal gene."

[liberalmuse]

5. It's called, 'the brain'.

I'm kidding. I don't know that I buy this - buy hey, I'm no scientist. 'Liberal' gene? How about 'Intelligence and common sense' gene?