Hey, You Liberal Wusses!

From the Daily Mail On-Line (Click Here).

"Men who are physically strong are more likely to take a right wing political stance, while weaker men are inclined to support the welfare state, according to a new study.

Researchers discovered political motivations may have evolutionary links to physical strength.

Men's upper-body strength predicts their political opinions on economic redistribution, according to the research."

Well, that settles everything, doesn't it!  You gotta love what passes for journalism these days.  Undoubtedly, some (especially those on the right) will run with this as "proof" of what they've suspected all along.  Yet another sign of the lamentable state of current political discourse. 

I, for one, sure don't fit the "scientific" data.  I'm no fan of the welfare state.  I side with Hayek and Schumpeter over Keynes.  And let's just say that while I once held a record for the fastest time on an obstacle course, I'm good for one, maybe two, pull-ups these days.  And I'll be sore for a week for attempting them.  The six-pack is still there.  One is in the fridge, and the other is buried under a couple of inches of middle-age paunch.

Comments

[Leon Cunningham]

I resemble that final paragraph.

[Scott Roper]

It seems like the Daily Mail didn't understand the article, probably because the press release was pretty confusing, and they didn't read anything past it. The study found a correlation between men's bicep size and self-interest (a combination of socioeconomic status and attitude towards redistribution), not bicep size and attitudes towards redistribution. Men with large biceps of low socioeconomic status tended to support redistribution. From the article (which is available free online):
"Does upper body strength influence support for redistribution in men? Yes. As predicted, for men of high SES the correlation between strength and support for redistribution is negative, whereas for men of low SES the correlation is positive. In other words, strong men who are high in SES oppose redistribution whereas strong men who are low in SES favor redistribution."
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1798773&download=yes