Political Choice

One commonly held Idea is that our political ideas are the result of our parents beliefs, as well as, regional and historical influences. There are now some interesting studies correlating political beliefs with certain behaviors. Reported in August 19th Science John Hibbing and Kevin Smith ,from the University of Nebraska, et al. report their findings that conservative, I believe they mean authoritarian, political beliefs are correlated with people who are physiologically highly responsive to sudden noises and visual stimuli. The liberal subjects were less responsive the these stimuli. It has not definitive been shown that these were the results of genetics, but it dose open the door to genetic explanations.

Dan McAdams et al. from Northwestern University report that fear is a primary motivating factory for conservative Christians, while meaning is a primary motivating factory in the political beliefs of liberal Christians. Again, this doesn't necessarily correlate these beliefs more strongly with genetics than the environment, but to correlate it with emotion it does make genetic explanations more likely.

What Questions are implied by these studies and which we may now be able to ask in more detail is what are the genetic foundations of our civilization? How might different gene pools effect the political field in a nation? These questions are far from being answered, but the amount of political design space available is must be limited by our genetic malleability and inheritance.
These reports also indicate why it really is futile to argue politics to non-believers. Apparently we really do have in our heads what we are willing to believe, before we believe it. I believe it also points the to need for rule is logic and debate.

If our political preferences are largely determined at birth, what solutions might be available so every one can have what the want? Our would that be wise with the conservatives being too aggressive and the liberals have no self defense?