Counterpunch. Tim Blair for the Left, only thoughtful.

Add this to your reading list.
No, scratch that, go read it now.

Synopsis: The author reflects on her childhood as a racist Southern Christian Conservative, how critical her familiy were about any higher education, but how she got it anyway, and how she sees the mindset of her family, and how it is spreading.

The whole 'Academia is full of élitist liberals' argument is hard to defend against, mainly because Academia is disproportionally inhabited by Lefties. (Disproportionate at least, when compared with, say, Liberal voters.)

One point made in this article, almost as a throwaway line, is that there is a damn good reason for this: Lefties are attracted to Academe in the same way that conservatives are attracted to the Army. Given this, demanding 'parity' in appointments between Leftists and Rightists is nonsense.

When you add in the inherant Macarthyism of the very concept (are you now, or have you ever been a Labor voter...), and the difficulty of determining borderline cases (Hmm... she wants smaller government, supports stricter border controls, wants more police powers, while at the same time demanding more personal economic liberty, so far so good... uh oh, she has a keffir grandparent would prefer more social assistance for the Aboriginals; she's tainted by The Left!), then it is arrant nonsense, and political apartheid to boot.

That's not all she writes, but it was something that leapt out at me.