4 ms·

Some of the stupidest and worst-informed people I've ever met have been liberals, and some of the most intelligent and thoughtful people I've met (and I've met

by endtime 17y ago

Some of the stupidest and worst-informed people I've ever met have been liberals, and some of the most intelligent and thoughtful people I've met (and I've met quite a number) have been conservatives. I spent four years at Georgetown, which is probably one of the most politically active schools in the country, so I think I have a decent sample of both the left and the right (albeit biased towards the intelligent end - but not as much as you might think, trust me). This isn't a particularly robust article, but the point he makes is probably correct - intelligence makes one more likely to go to university, and going to university exposes one up to far more liberal influence than conservative. It certainly matches my experience. My experience has also been that the vast majority of liberals move at least a bit to the right after they grow up and have to support themselves. (No one's ever totally objective about this stuff, but for what it's worth, I'm a moderate, to the point that I didn't feel I could vote either way in the last election.)

Tichy 17y ago
I'm not from the US, so it seems to me the argument from the article falls down on "it perpetuates the established political order". Haven't there been both liberal and conservative parties in power in the past? So you would still have to explain why universities would tend to be liberal. Anyway, nothing good can come from this discussion here. I hope it'll be flagged to death soon.
- petercooper 17y ago
  Even the liberal US media is ridiculously conservative by European standards, so it's certainly a US-centric point they're making. Sadly, they won't figure that out and instead believe the US system is the one the world gravitates around.
  - endtime 17y ago
    Just because I, whose experience is limited to America, speak in America-relative terms doesn't mean I am ill-informed about the rest of the world or am exhibiting some kind of politco-centrism.
- kingkongreveng_ 17y ago
  Coolidge might be the last conservative President. Barry Goldwater might be the last serious conservative presidential candidate. The Republican party has not much been for American conservatism (constitutionalism, states rights, extreme caution in affecting the social order) in practice since Nixon. The Republican party has been in practice very much about the established order.
- endtime 17y ago
  >Haven't there been both liberal and conservative parties in power in the past? So you would still have to explain why universities would tend to be liberal. Universities in the US aren't run by the federal government, and even if they were, the party in power wouldn't have any effect on the political leanings of campus staff/faculty. We're not China. The reason university campuses tend to be liberal, I think, is that most of the people there are A) young and inexperienced; or B) a very specific and self-selecting subset of intelligent people (professors) who are not necessarily a representative sample of all intelligent people.
nfnaaron 17y ago
Somewhat OT, but it's better if you do vote. In such a scenario I generally vote Libertarian or Green as something of a protest/none-of-the-above vote. If you can't vote "either way," and you don't vote, then you're effective voting for (or giving the vote to) the combined LeftRight party that you can't bring yourself to vote for. If you can't be a participant, at least be a Jammer.
- kingkongreveng_ 17y ago
  Considering history, voting is delusional. Might as well buy lottery tickets. You can't reasonably predict what candidates will do once in power based on what they say. Besides, the political environment is essentially driven by the "madness of crowds". You are irrelevant. Better to remain detached and regard politics like the weather, something to be dealt with as necessary.
- endtime 17y ago
  You're right, but given how little free time I have, the hassle of the paperwork for voting as an absentee (I'm still a student, just not at Georgetown) wasn't worth it to me.
TNO 17y ago
Reminds me of this mis-attributed quote: "Show me a young conservative and I'll show you someone with no heart. Show me an old liberal and I'll show you someone with no brains."

by endtime 17y ago

Tichy 17y ago

I'm not from the US, so it seems to me the argument from the article falls down on "it perpetuates the established political order". Haven't there been both liberal and conservative parties in power in the past? So you would still have to explain why universities would tend to be liberal. Anyway, nothing good can come from this discussion here. I hope it'll be flagged to death soon.

petercooper 17y ago
Even the liberal US media is ridiculously conservative by European standards, so it's certainly a US-centric point they're making. Sadly, they won't figure that out and instead believe the US system is the one the world gravitates around.
- endtime 17y ago
  Just because I, whose experience is limited to America, speak in America-relative terms doesn't mean I am ill-informed about the rest of the world or am exhibiting some kind of politco-centrism.
kingkongreveng_ 17y ago
Coolidge might be the last conservative President. Barry Goldwater might be the last serious conservative presidential candidate. The Republican party has not much been for American conservatism (constitutionalism, states rights, extreme caution in affecting the social order) in practice since Nixon. The Republican party has been in practice very much about the established order.
endtime 17y ago
>Haven't there been both liberal and conservative parties in power in the past? So you would still have to explain why universities would tend to be liberal. Universities in the US aren't run by the federal government, and even if they were, the party in power wouldn't have any effect on the political leanings of campus staff/faculty. We're not China. The reason university campuses tend to be liberal, I think, is that most of the people there are A) young and inexperienced; or B) a very specific and self-selecting subset of intelligent people (professors) who are not necessarily a representative sample of all intelligent people.

nfnaaron 17y ago

Somewhat OT, but it's better if you do vote. In such a scenario I generally vote Libertarian or Green as something of a protest/none-of-the-above vote. If you can't vote "either way," and you don't vote, then you're effective voting for (or giving the vote to) the combined LeftRight party that you can't bring yourself to vote for. If you can't be a participant, at least be a Jammer.

kingkongreveng_ 17y ago
Considering history, voting is delusional. Might as well buy lottery tickets. You can't reasonably predict what candidates will do once in power based on what they say. Besides, the political environment is essentially driven by the "madness of crowds". You are irrelevant. Better to remain detached and regard politics like the weather, something to be dealt with as necessary.
endtime 17y ago
You're right, but given how little free time I have, the hassle of the paperwork for voting as an absentee (I'm still a student, just not at Georgetown) wasn't worth it to me.

TNO 17y ago

Reminds me of this mis-attributed quote: "Show me a young conservative and I'll show you someone with no heart. Show me an old liberal and I'll show you someone with no brains."