I’ve often termed Republicans, and their cousins Conservatives, neocons, paleocons, Fascists, proto-Fascists, Christo-Fascists, Crypto-Fascists and so forth as “nitrogen breathers” because so many times when we examine their actions, myths, legends, beliefs and thought patterns it seems as though they came from another planet.

Well, I was only half right. Most are probably Earthlings, but they are different. Nicole Belle, writing at Crooks and Liars points out there seems to be some correlative and observational data pointing out how different they really are, and how far back into their childhood the core features of their personalities extend.

Nicole points to a study reported in Psychology Today. Her money quote only tells part of the story.

"All people are born alike-except Republicans and Democrats," quipped Groucho Marx, and in fact it turns out that personality differences between liberals and conservatives are evident in early childhood. In 1969, Berkeley professors Jack and Jeanne Block embarked on a study of childhood personality, asking nursery school teachers to rate children's temperaments. They weren't even thinking about political orientation.

Twenty years later, they decided to compare the subjects' childhood personalities with their political preferences as adults. They found arresting patterns. As kids, liberals had developed close relationships with peers and were rated by their teachers as self-reliant, energetic, impulsive, and resilient. People who were conservative at age 23 had been described by their teachers as easily victimized, easily offended, indecisive, fearful, rigid, inhibited, and vulnerable at age 3. The reason for the difference, the Blocks hypothesized, was that insecure kids most needed the reassurance of tradition and authority, and they found it in conservative politics.

Is anyone surprised that righties are introverts, loners, unable to form associative relationships with ease? Heck, I knew by the age of ten that some children were broody and lacked communication skills, but despite this were surprisingly more likely to be abusive to others at recess. By the time I was a Junior in high school I’d realized that some of my fellow students (all-boys high school) were quick to resolve disputes with their fists rather than talking the differences out.

OK, you know where we’re going with this, but other studies have observed specific cultural preferences:

Most people are surprised to learn that there are real, stable differences in personality between conservatives and liberals—not just different views or values, but underlying differences in temperament. Psychologists John Jost of New York University, Dana Carney of Harvard, and Sam Gosling of the University of Texas have demonstrated that conservatives and liberals boast markedly different home and office decor. Liberals are messier than conservatives, their rooms have more clutter and more color, and they tend to have more travel documents, maps of other countries, and flags from around the world. Conservatives are neater, and their rooms are cleaner, better organized, more brightly lit, and more conventional. Liberals have more books, and their books cover a greater variety of topics. And that's just a start. Multiple studies find that liberals are more optimistic. Conservatives are more likely to be religious. Liberals are more likely to like classical music and jazz, conservatives, country music. Liberals are more likely to enjoy abstract art. Conservative men are more likely than liberal men to prefer conventional forms of entertainment like TV and talk radio. Liberal men like romantic comedies more than conservative men. Liberal women are more likely than conservative women to enjoy books, poetry, writing in a diary, acting, and playing musical instruments.

Something happens, very early on, that causes these differences. Perhaps it’s in the genes, like blue eyes, or red hair, right-handedness or even a bend towards homosexuality. Or it might be in that very first year. Maybe Mommy doesn’t hold some kids and cuddle them, talk to them as often as other Mommies do.

The Psychology Today article is five pages long and discusses quite a few studies over the years that point out significant differences in the way righties’ minds work differently than lefties’. It’s well worth going through the article, if for no other reason than to make you marvel about the accuracies.

After the tragedy of Virginia Tech psychologists are once again talking about developing better determinant tools in order to identify twisted personalities like Cho Seung-Hui, and treat them earlier so as to avoid such tragedies.

I’ll bet they could also develop programs to identify and sidetrack those kids who sit and brood in the schoolyard and then try to steal your lunch when you’re not looking.