I'm from the south.

[rrneck]

273. It has to come from inside, deep in your bones.

Those are your words. But maybe I misinterpreted them. Lets have a look.

If liberalism exists as an innate part of someone as if it were genetically encoded your umbrage would be the rankest kind of bigotry wouldn't it? You'd be claiming that your were innately better than somebody else because of what you are, and be extension, what they are. That would be bad.

But what if liberalism somehow got "into your bones" from somewhere else? The next question to ask is how did it get there and more importantly, how hard was it to get it there? How hard did you have to work to consider yourself an "old-line" liberal? Were you raised in a liberal family? In a liberal region of the country? Did you ever have to question the basic beliefs of your upbringing? If that's the case, your environment saved you a lot of time and trouble. Good for you.

By now you should see the nature/nurture implications of your dilemma. So which is it? Why don't you untwist your words for us.

Of course the interesting part of this issue is not really how hard it is to embrace an ideology, but what people do with it. It seems to me that serious problems arise when ideology becomes an end rather than a means; a product rather than a tool; a litmus test rather than a big tent.