The Genetically Programmed Urge to
Vote
A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
"Political scientist James Fowler claims genetics may
motivate a citizen to case a ballot or not."
The Wall Street Journal is one of the sacred texts of
the U.S. ruling class - or, as I call them, the Lords of Capital. It's
important to know what the Lords of Capital are talking about, even if it turns
out to be a bunch of nonsense. One should know one's enemies weaknesses and
idiocies as well as their strengths, the better to defeat them. Plus, the Lords
of Capital, although by no means smarter than any other group of people, can do
tremendous damage to society out of ignorance, due to the sheer weight of their
money. It's always good to know when they might be collectively going berserk -
if only to get out of their way.
It is clear from a recent issue of the Wall Street
Journal that the Lords of Capital are getting some bad advice from
academics they pay to think for them. A September
5 article, titled "The Biology of Ideology," focuses on a school of thought
that holds that genetics has a direct impact on politics. Political scientist
James Fowler, of the University of California at San Diego, claims genetics may
motivate a citizen to cast a ballot or not, and that one can inherit the urge
to run for office. Another highly paid thinker, David Amodio, a social
psychologist at New York University, seems to suggest that there are "liberal"
and "conservative" modes of thought that work at the molecular level of the
brain. Prof. Amodio believes understanding the brain's inherited mechanisms may
help consultants develop better advertising campaigns for their politician
clients.
"Another highly paid thinker suggests that there are
‘liberal' and ‘conservative' modes of thought that work at the molecular level
of the brain."
If these theories held water, their internal logic would
lead us to some very bizarre conclusions. For example, since African Americans
consistently vote for the most progressive candidate (who they believe has a
chance of winning), the theory would indicate that Blacks have inherited
neurological traits that are more "liberal" than European-Americans. If that is
so, then the rich can stop spending so much money and time buying and stealing
elections, since the white majority is already genetically programmed to vote
for the Party of Business. Also, they can simply dispense with Black
Republicans altogether, since African Americans find them repugnant and alien
at the genetic level.
This new theory on politics and genetics would tend to
explain why whites disenfranchised Blacks in so many parts of the United States
around the turn of the 20th Century. If one's genetic background can influence the urge to vote, then
we might conclude that white southerners were driven by their genes to bar
Blacks from the ballot, so that whites could satisfy their inherited,
hyperactive compulsion to monopolize the vote.
The ultimate logic - or rather, illogic - of this theory
leads to dismantling of electoral democracy, altogether. If people are already
programmed to behave one way or another, politically, then campaigning and the
entire exercise of the clash of ideas, is pointless. If, that is, the final
outcome is in the genes.
Of course, the theory is nonsense - just another of the
mental gyrations the rich go through to rationalize their superior social and
economic status. That status is largely inherited, and becomes more so every
day with the increasing concentrations of wealth and decreasing social mobility
for the masses of people. All of it has to do with the ways that ruling classes
keep other classes down in society. Genes have nothing to do with it.
For Black Agenda Radio, I'm Glen Ford.
BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted
at [email protected].
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