and I just so happen to have stumbled across this article, it sounds like perfect timing to share it with you.

Seems a bunch of Berkley professors did a study as to what traits make up a conservative mindset. I'll grant that it would have more validity if there were a research organization that had centrist researchers but it sounds like they at least tried to go into this with an open mind.

Researchers help define what makes a political conservative

Four researchers who culled through 50 years of research literature about the psychology of conservatism report that at the core of political conservatism is the resistance to change and a tolerance for inequality, and that some of the common psychological factors linked to political conservatism include:

* Fear and aggression
* Dogmatism and intolerance of ambiguity
* Uncertainty avoidance
* Need for cognitive closure
* Terror management

Later in the article it shows that they don't necessarily view these findings as judgmental.

The researchers said that conservative ideologies, like virtually all belief systems, develop in part because they satisfy some psychological needs, but that "does not mean that conservatism is pathological or that conservative beliefs are necessarily false, irrational, or unprincipled."

They also stressed that their findings are not judgmental.

"In many cases, including mass politics, 'liberal' traits may be liabilities, and being intolerant of ambiguity, high on the need for closure, or low in cognitive complexity might be associated with such generally valued characteristics as personal commitment and unwavering loyalty," the researchers wrote.

Sure seems to be what we've been trying to say.

Art