[Cerek]

Davros - I have to disagree. (C'mon, you knew that was coming )

Seriously though, I don't agree that parents "indoctrinate" thier kids - and especially not their teens. Teens naturally rebel against their parents as they struggle to form their own identity and a parent or parents that push a "hard-core" line are only going to face an even larger rebellion.

And while I know you were just using the repugs to be consistent, I do take issue with repugs and conservatives always being considered "afraid" or worse "incapable" of independent thought.

To be perfectly honost, I was a registered Democrat in high school. I changed my registration after going to college and actually learning what ideals and issues the Democratic party supported. I admit I registered as a Democrat because my parents were also Democrats - but that isn't because they "indoctrinated" me. It's because I really had no idea what the difference between the two parties were and voter registration is a very important issue...so I just naturally chose what my parents were. Since then, we have ALL changed our registration as the Democratic party became more and more liberal.

And - despite my deeply conservative values - I am not registered as a Republican either. Instead, I chose to register as an Independent because it was the best reflection of my values.

The only reason I didn't register as an Independent sooner than I did is because - for many, many years - Independent voters were not allowed to vote in the primary elections for either party. Primary elections are the ones held to choose which candidate will represent the party in any given race, whether it be President of the United States or Sheriff of the local town. As soon as the rule was changed so that Independents could also vote in the Primaries, I changed my registration.

I don't think either party has a lock on the moral or intellectual high ground. The Repubs are generally more conservative, so they get my vote more often than the Demo's, but I've voted for plenty of Demo's in my time too (for State and Congressional Representatives and Senators) because the Democratic candidate endorsed more of the issues that were important to me than their Republican opponent.

I know it is a popular thought that Universities are "breeding grounds" for liberals and liberal thought. To some extent, that may be true. But I attended two Universities in my college career - one was a major state university and the other was a much smaller uni closer to home. I did encounter more diversity of ideas, lifestyles and everything else at the larger university, but that was just a factor of the sheer numbers there (around 25k students at the time). I freely admit that the smaller college was much more "conservative" in their views than the larger one - at least in my experience. Then again, the smaller university was set in a very small town while the major university was in our state's capitol. So the environment made a big difference too.

Anyway, I think that colleges don't necessarily "promote" independent thought so much as the "coming of age" of the students. I began establishing my own identity in high school, but I didn't really start looking at "world issues" until I was in college. And the biggest influence on my thinking came from my friends and classmates instead of my professors.

So while I would like to accuse University's in general of being bastions of liberalism, I have to admit that both sides of the spectrum are usually represented equally enough (though I will agree that most prof's do tend to lean more towards the liberal side. Again, that is based on personal experience and observation, not hearsay and indoctrination).