This is not in any way to denigrate the importance of a carefully reasoned and logical set of principles. How we define ourselves and evolve as persons requires such self-examination. However, it just happens to be the case that we are more attracted to or driven to our values, particularly when very young, moreso than we actively construct them.
This calls for a new vision of the person. What it says is that a liberal who is vain, bombastic, and deprecating has a lot more in common with a conservative who is vain, bombastic, and deprecating than with a humble, reserved, and considerate liberal.
This having been said, however, we may still derive personality traits which define the liberal and conservative essences. We may predict, and will likely find, that these values are more commonly found in the adherents to each ideology than in the contrary.
But first we must identify which values really count in a personality.
