Would this have been so horrible?

[Hortensis]

109. Yes, we did have conservative founders and, not

surprisingly in a legislature, they did also have some say in the formation of our government--notably right now, of course, they were responsible for the electoral college.

People who read about the amazing, and fascinating, scientific advances in understanding the human brain DO understand that there is a "genetic aspect," as well as environmental. It's even often possible to tell liberals from conservatives and vice versa by brain imaging. Like muscles, greater and lesser use of some parts of the brain seemingly affects their size. We even process information in different orders.

Interestingly, tendencies to extremism on left or right so far apparently correlate more with environment than genetics, although definitely genetic correlations have been measured. I'm thinking here of what happens to the brains and thinking (or lack of it) of people who surround themselves with narrow and/or extreme points of view, such as in certain religious groups and political forums. The brain gets "rewired" as a result of chosen environmental influences. It can be a very damaging syndrome.

As for your last, didn't I just point out that virtually all liberals, from the founding of our nation right up through today believe in progressive government? You know, the government of, by and for the people thing? You don't get more progressive than that. This is a basic way of viewing government that strong conservatives don't share. We think we run OUR government. Strong conservatives tend to think THE government runs them and are anywhere from very happy to very unhappy with that depending on how well the government suits them.

Progressivism is huge. Certainly it's incredibly more than just a label to rip off someone else's forehead and slap on one's own. Imo, you should be proud that you are progressive (I assume) and not be unhappy that many millions of others are too.

After all, a very slightly larger voting majority and we'd be talking about how college is going to be made affordable, and how much. Not about whether someone who burned a flag could have his citizenship revoked (presumably after another arch-conservative or two were seated on SCOTUS).