Hereditary conditioning

On page 35 of How to Win Over Worry (2009, Harvest House Publishers) by John Edmund Haggai:

A Democrat from the South asked a man living in Vermont, "Why are you a Republican?"

The Vermonter answered, "My father was a Republican, my grandfather was a Republican, and therefore, I am a Republican."

The Southerner said, "Suppose your father had been a fool and your grandfather had been a fool. Then what would you be?"

"Oh," the man replied, "in that case, I'd be a Democrat."