MEDVED CONFUSES BIOLOGY WITH SOCIOLOGY

Michael "The Moralistic" Medved manages to repeat George Herbert Spencer's view that laisser faire is highest political principle and extends it to claim that this is inherent in American's genetic heritage. Thus, Medved writes:

Senators Obama, Clinton and other leaders who seek to enlarge the scope of government face more formidable obstacles than they realize. Their desire to impose a European-style welfare state and a command-and-control economy not only contradicts our proudest political and economic traditions, but the new revelations about American DNA suggest that such ill-starred schemes may go against our very nature.

I can agree with Medved about the undesirability of a command-and-control economy, mostly because it won't work, but the idea that the genetics of immigrants somehow leads to particular economic policies is absurd. PZ Myers points out a couple of contradictions in Medved's point of view and I'd like to add that the early Christians, who certainly were risk-takers, were also socialists.